Last Ditch Effort
by pharmakon
Summary: A high achiever fails a class, gives up on everything, and decides to become a Pokemon trainer so she'll have done something with her life. Things don't go quite as she expected.
1. Chapter 1

Early spring meant the second trimester ended and the third began, but it was already too late. Colette traced the grades on the report card- A, A, A, F, B, B, A- and thought despairingly, _One of these things is not like the others._

A failing grade. In _Chemistry._ Coupled with a barely-reached B in the first trimester, and the finals in the third... She wouldn't be able to get through this year with anything higher than a D in that class, would she? And if she had a D in one of her classes and a mix of A's and B's in the others...

The premier research academy in Kalos had admissions so competitive that skipping two grades, doing more volunteer work than you could handle, and making straight A's wasn't always enough to make them pay attention to you. Colette had planned all her life to do all of that and more: to skip two grades (done) and to volunteer at her local research center every spare moment she had, to do all her homework and all her extra credit and become Professor Lacebark, graduate of the most prestigious university in Kalos and invited to give talks at every conference, to share her findings with all the world-

And then she'd started to let her schoolwork get away from her, after she'd skipped freshman year and had become a tenth grader at _thirteen_. And then she'd been unable to focus, having to study for the first time in her life, trying everything just to make herself do her homework, planner after planner filled with gel pen markings to make her remember. And then she'd completely forgotten about her midterm project for Chemistry. She'd gotten a _zero_ on something worth half her grade.

 _Some child prodigy. Can't even remember something the teacher's been talking about for weeks._

She'd petitioned her teacher for extra work. She'd begged the principal to intercede for her. She'd considered going to another school, but the grade would follow her there no matter how hard she tried to remove it. So... that was it.

No straight A's meant no Academy. An F meant that if she didn't pick up her grade by the end of the year, she'd be forced to repeat it. There was no way to become a professor for her.

There was no way to the future from here.

It was like she had flicked a switch, thinking that. Suddenly nothing mattered- not her carefully-crafted planner, not her study sessions, not her attempts at learning Sinnohan. She had already failed to prove herself. She had already _failed_.

Colette felt tears stream down her face. She couldn't face her parents when they learned just how badly she'd disappointed them. At this point she couldn't even face herself in the mirror. Useless, _useless_ person, no good to society or to anyone, just trying and trying and failing all the same, build a whole house of cards and watch it _fall-_

She was crying. There was a tight feeling in her chest, winding tighter and tighter every second and making it ache. Her whole _body_ ached. School felt impossibly distant and impossibly terrible. She couldn't face anyone after this, could she? Going to school, looking everyone who joked about her being a genius in the face and having to know the whole time that she was a fake- she couldn't stand the thought.

All her friends called her the smart one. All her teachers fawned on her, praised her, except for two, and one of those had failed her without a second thought. Doing well in the past meant nothing, not anymore. She couldn't call herself an all-A student. She couldn't even call herself smart anymore.

It was a feeling somewhere between numbness and a sick thrill, because if she wasn't the smart one she was nothing at all.

Well- the tight feeling in her chest felt like it was choking her. Well, _so be it._ She grabbed the report card and kicked her backpack hard, feeling the satisfying thunk of a bunch of textbooks. No use to her now, too far gone- why should she care? Forget her homework, she was going outside- forget everything, she was _going._ Minors in training regions were lucky: they always had a way out of their troubles. Wasting time, wasting lives, what did it matter? A trainer did what they wanted. A trainer didn't have any expectations to disappoint. A trainer was _free._

Half of her class, back in middle school, had gotten starter Pokemon and disappeared into the routes, only coming back to visit their parents and crow about their successes in Pokemon training. Colette had scoffed at them, had taken the exams to let her test out of classes instead. Showed what she knew, didn't it.

 _Fucking idiot. Fucking lazy dumbass, you had all that time to fix everything and you blew it. This is no one's fault but yours._

Colette made a frustrated sound and went out to the kitchen, scribbling on a Post-It note and sticking it to the fridge, slamming a magnet next to it with her report card pinned underneath it.

 _Going on a Trainer journey. I'll call once I reach Lumiose, or you can call me before. I'm not doing well enough in school to become a professor anymore, so there's no point staying in a losing game. I love you! -Colette._

One of her uncles had given her a Pokemart voucher for her last birthday, to her parents' disapproval. It was for ten Pokeballs for any aspiring trainer who had the voucher, and as her uncle had said, it was primarily used by brand-new trainers who needed to stock up before they left. Colette had the voucher, and she had her savings; between them, she figured, she should be able to get some supplies to stuff in her backpack for the beginning of her journey. She packed a second set of clothes, a couple of favorite books, a lighter, a flashlight, her phone charger, and some non-perishables she found in the pantry: granola bars, fruit cups, and a refillable water bottle, mostly. There was a trainers' manual that had used to belong to her older brother in his room-turned-office, so she took that, too, since Nick would never use it again, and stuffed it in with the rest to read as she went. Her sneakers were kind of worn out, she decided, but probably good enough for a bit of walking, and she could use her old shrinkable sleeping bag to rest out under the stars. Her phone went into her pocket.

Thus packed, Colette tightened her shoelaces and shrugged on her backpack, trying to hype herself up for leaving home and wandering the wilds of Kalos. She'd always planned to train eventually, anyway, she reasoned. Professor Oak had been a trainer in his younger days. Of course, he'd also been basically a prodigy...

Don't think about it. Just open the door, and leave.

* * *

"Ten Pokeballs?" the cashier asked. "So you're starting your trainer journey, huh."

Colette nodded, and thanked her lucky stars that Kalos didn't have a trainer license exam. Literally anyone could be a trainer. _Anyone._ She could just go to the Pokemon Center in Lumiose, where the Nurse Joy was less likely to know her, and register as a trainer there to get her proper license, Pokedex, and badge case. Despite everything, the thought of her own Pokedex made her shiver with anticipation. So much knowledge at her fingertips, and for _free-_ "I'm thinking of challenging the Lumiose Gym first," she volunteered. The cashier looked a little more interested.

"Why not Viola? She _is_ right here in town." Right here in town, where Colette might run back into her parents. She wasn't going to risk it.

"I think my starter's gonna be a Grass type," she said. "So I'll have a type advantage once we've trained a little bit, I hope!"

"Well, good luck," the cashier said, ringing up the voucher. "You going for just a couple of local gyms, or all eight? You don't have to take the League challenge to have a good trainer journey, you know. People who try that kind of stuff are just, like, _really_ intense. I used to date a guy with seven gym badges once, you know, and I swear he spent more time with his Gourgeist than he ever did with me."

Oof. "I'm not sure I'm that into it," Colette said awkwardly. "It's just a way to make some extra money and travel, right? Get away for a while?"

"Totally," the cashier said cheerfully. "That's the best part about it!" She put the ten Pokeballs in a bag and handed them over the counter. "Good luck, kid!"

"Thanks," Colette told her sincerely.

The sky over Santalune was cloudy, and as evening crept up Colette started to wonder if she should have waited till the next day to leave for her journey. Her parents would be worried when they got back tonight.

But if she gave up now, she'd really never have accomplished anything. She'd just go back home to her parents' disappointment and to a long life of being _nothing_ and _nobody..._

Deep breaths. Focus, come on, count to ten and be done with it...

She reached the gate for Route 4 and stopped. You weren't supposed to go into the routes without a Pokemon with you. That was drummed into everyone's heads since they were old enough to understand language- don't go out into the woods alone, don't go too far from home or the city alone, don't stray away from your playmates. No Pokemon Means No Playtime. Stay where we can see you. Remember the rules.

Her parents had used to have an Azumarill called Navy, who had watched Colette when she was little and still interested in playing outside. He'd been old when Colette was born, though- old enough to have belonged to her grandfather in his youth- and he had died when she reached the fifth grade. Colette felt a pang of grief just thinking about him.

Maybe she could catch a Marill or Azurill on Route 4, if there were any. If she managed to sneak out of the city without a Pokemon by her side in the first place. Colette took another deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, then pulled out one of her empty Pokeballs and started muttering to it as she walked into the gate.

"Look, I know you're mad at me right now, but I already said I'm sorry! I won't offer wild Pokemon food before I feed you, I promise- I already told you I promised- and I really need you to work with me here, okay?" The gate clerk was already looking up at her. He asked, "Name, please?"

"Colette Lacebark." She sent another glare down at the empty Pokeball. "And Marill, but he's not too interested in making an appearance right now." Everyone was taught from childhood not to go out on Routes without some kind of Pokemon. Colette had researched this for her debate club: it wasn't actually illegal to go through the gates without one, or to go through the gates under false pretenses. It was assumed that people had too much common sense for that.

People never had common sense, from what Colette could tell, but in this case she hoped the clerk would assume that at least _she_ did. "Ugh, I know what that's like," the man said with feeling. "Pokemon get upset over the weirdest things, right?" Colette made herself smile her Debate Smile- the one she practiced in the mirror.

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

The cashier didn't even bother entering her name into his computer. "Welp. You're a trainer, so you're home free. Careful, though, it's getting dark. You have a place to stay for the night?"

"I'm camping with a friend," Colette said reassuringly. Her hands were shaking; she moved them under the counter where the clerk couldn't see. The shock from her grades was wearing off and leaving fear in its place. What was she _doing?_

Taking control of everything. Come on, don't stop now. Keep going. "Have a good night!"

"You too," the clerk said a little uncertainly, but by then Colette was through the gate and gone.

* * *

Parterre Way, known to trainers as Route 4, was on Kalos travel guides as scenic and easy, covered in lovely flowers and right in the middle of a sunny part of the region. It was famed for Perle Fountain, for its luxurious gardens, and for its hedge mazes. There were areas off to the sides where the tourist destination part fell away and the forests of Kalos were more prominent, but most day trippers didn't go too close to those. In daylight, people were comfortable enough with it to let their children play with their low-leveled Pokemon on the route, content that they would be protected from the wild Pokemon in the area.

At night it was a lot less welcoming. Some ancient instinct made Colette go quiet like she might attract a predator if she were too loud, and her heart started to beat a little faster. Without a Pokemon with her, she was vulnerable. Older, wilder Pokemon wouldn't hesitate to attack a human being if given the chance, and she would hardly be able to catch an older Pokemon if it came after her. Did catching a Pokemon even make it obey you automatically? What if she caught something and it just _mauled_ her? What would she do then?

The last hints of sunlight drained away behind the trees, and Colette was left squinting and waiting for her eyes to adjust, scanning the hedges and flower patches for any movement. It was barely warm, just early enough in the spring for winter to have something of a last hold on the region. Colette was pretty sure that meant that a lot of wild Pokemon would be getting more active. Right? She just had to catch one of them. If she caught a Pokemon, she'd be a trainer officially, and no one could take that away from her. If she could just catch one...

Being out in the open made her feel like she was being watched. She shivered and moved toward the hedge maze, then dug the flashlight out of her backpack and clicked it on. The thin beam of light only served to get rid of her night vision and make everything else seem darker, and she clicked it off in a rush. What was she thinking, calling attention to herself like this? What if something _saw?_

She skirted a corner and sat down with her back to a wall of leaves. Now she couldn't see more than a few feet in front of her. Now she was alone in a Route full of wild Pokemon, and she hadn't even seen one yet. If she didn't succeed soon, she'd have to go back to Santalune. Back home.

Her mother would hug her, then probably yell for worrying her like that. Her father would say, _it's all right, we'll be able to get your grades up somehow._ Move you to a different school. Get you new tutors, take some new tests. _You're so smart, Colette. We know this was just a fluke._

Except it hadn't been a fluke. Her grades had been dropping ever since she'd hit the tenth grade. They'd been dropping ever since she'd been required to put actual _effort_ in. No matter what she tried, she was too scatterbrained to get things done. She failed at everything she attempted.

Colette clenched her fists. No, this was unacceptable. This was _not allowed_. To end up back home, after pledging herself to an endeavor and giving up almost immediately? That would be _too much_ to bear. What kind of idiot was she? What kind of- of _coward?_ Scared of the dark like a little kid, scared of wild Pokemon like an old lady- was she really that weak? Fuck that. _Fuck_ that. She wasn't going to fail at this, too. She _couldn't_.

She wouldn't.

She hefted her flashlight, testing its weight in her hands, and clutched it tight. Then she called out, voice cracking, "Trainer looking for a starter Pokemon here, if you're interested please appear!" Nothing happened. Somewhere in the darkness, a few leaves rustled. Colette resisted the urge to turn on her flashlight and said, "If anyone's interested in being a trainer's Pokemon, please come out where I can see you."

A louder rustle came from the shadows. Colette stiffened, suddenly regretting calling out, and the Pokemon came slowly into sight. Slinking and feline, red eyes blaring warning- oh. That was a Pyroar. Its mane was ragged and messy, but its fiery glow was unmistakable.

She hadn't realized their prides ranged out this close to human settlements. Though- she squinted- from what she could tell, this one had a lot of scars. This one might not have had a pride at all. It growled low and angry in its throat, and Colette took a step back.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you aren't here to get a trainer," Colette said slowly. She held her flashlight more tightly.

"Pyre," the Pyroar snarled. In the dark, Colette couldn't see its full body; the shadows around it made it seem bigger, like a monster from a horror movie. _Savannah Monsters. Claws. I Am The Fire-type That Lives In The House._ Okay, maybe not that last one.

"Do you want me to leave?" Colette asked. Her voice was only shaking a little. "I- I can leave." Lone Pyroar were vicious, she remembered. They were _territorial._ Fuck.

She ran logistics in her head. Her backpack was back by the hedge she'd rested at, and her only weapon was a flashlight. The gate was in sight still, but she'd have to get past the Pyroar to get it. It was skinny, gnarled-looking, probably hungry- was that why it had ranged so far out here? Was it looking for food?

Would it settle for a granola bar and a refillable water bottle? The Pyroar growled again and took a step forward, slow like it wanted to spook her into running, and Colette amended her question. Would it settle for anything but, specifically, her? She took another step back-

The Pyroar gave a frustrated snarl and leaped-

And Colette threw her flashlight and hit it square between the eyes.

She ran. Away from the gate, great job there, but also away from the Pyroar, because Colette knew her priorities. If she could get to Perle Fountain- would the water be enough to keep the Pyroar away? Fire-types hated water, didn't they? She scrambled over the path, dodging the edges of flower patches and hedges, and dashed toward the fountain with all the speed she could summon.

The Pyroar leaped and dragged her to the ground before she could make it. Colette screamed and kicked out, but the Pokemon only took the blows and held on, teeth buried deep in her shirt. "Let go of me! I am not getting eaten before I've even got my first _badge_ \- let go of me! Hey! Help me!"

The Pyroar growled deep in its throat and started dragging her kicking and screaming to the side. Colette's fear spiked up higher, and she cried louder, "Let go of me! _Let go of me, help-"_

A face-full of dirt. Colette spat it out and glared, for a moment too offended to keep screaming. The Pyroar glared right back. It took a moment for Colette to realize that it had stopped dragging her. When she did, she kicked it in the nose, threw a Pokeball at it, and dove for a flower patch.

A flash of light, a roar, a flare of fire lighting up the darkness- Colette crushed down her instinctive scream and scrambled into the flowers, reaching for something to hold her own with. A rock- no, that wasn't much more useful than a flashlight. A flower- literally useless. Someone's dropped Potion? She wasn't here to _heal_ it.

Fuck fuck fuck it was going to _kill her_ and her parents would _find her body_ and that would be _it_ , just a picture on the mantle of the kid they'd lost to utter stupidity, rest in peace, _are you happy now_?

The Pyroar crashed through the flowers after her and made a low, furious sound, fire leaking from between its teeth. Colette whimpered and scooted back as it came closer, staring at its teeth. "You don't have to kill me," she tried. Her heart was caught in her throat."You can just not, and say you did."

Fire lit up the space between them, and the Pyroar glared like it wanted her dead. "Roar pyroar."

"No idea what you're saying," Colette said desperately. "But look, I'm sure we can reason this out- I have food, my parents have food-" The Pyroar's mouth was lighting up- "I'm really really hopeful that you'll please not _kill me_ -"

A sour smell hit her, and she scrunched up her face on instinct as the Pyroar stiffened and rumbled. Oh, great, now it was even more mad. She continued, "If you'd just let me go-" and a barrage of yellow stars hit the Pyroar with a _shing_ through the air. The Pyroar reared back and bared its teeth at something behind Colette.

She looked up to where the Pyroar was glaring, then blinked. Six white-tipped legs, hovering in the air connected to a round little Pokemon about the size of a large dinner plate... That was a Ledyba.

Wait. A _Ledyba?_

"Leeeey," it buzzed menacingly. It landed between Colette and the Pyroar and raised its wing sheathes like a warning.

"Get out of here," Colette hissed, glaring at the Pyroar. "You're Bug-type, you don't stand a chance." _Also you're a random wild unevolved Pokemon_ , she thought, _and I'd prefer not to see you die._

"Ba!" the Ledyba told her, and waved a leg in her direction. Colette took the cue and stood up on shaky legs. What now? She couldn't outrun the Pyroar, but maybe she could outsmart it? Or at least the Ledyba could. Maybe their combined minds would be enough, if it stuck around.

If it didn't get roasted to a crisp in front of her for trying to help, that was. Oh, God.

The Pyroar shook its head and stalked towards them, face contorted with rage. Colette looked back at where she'd left all her supplies and said to the Ledyba, "I've got to get back near the gate down there." Maybe the Pyroar would be pacified if she gave it all her food, or she could get back to the gate before it caught her.

The Ledyba glanced up at her and then back at the Pyroar; as the Fire-type approached it backed up, looking more and more uncertain, and closed down its wing covers again. Colette wracked her brain for Ledyba knowledge and whispered, "Supersonic, then we run."

"Ba," the Ledyba said, straightening up. The Pyroar grew tired of watching them and bounded forward- Colette jumped out of the way- and the Ledyba flew into the air and _screamed._

The sound ricocheted through Colette's head like a stray bullet. She clutched her ears, trying to block it out, and saw a couple of Pokemon flee out of the corner of her eye. However badly it hit her, though, it hit the Pyroar worse. The Pokemon roared in confusion and shook its head violently, backing up like it wasn't sure which way was forward, and Colette took the chance to dash for her backpack, back in the hedge maze near the gate.

Light met her eyes as she got closer- yep, that was a gate- and then a weight hit her shoulder, no more than ten pounds and cool to her skin. The Ledyba chirred into her ear, "Baaaa," as she burst into the gate lobby and slammed the door behind her; the clerk stood up with a start.

Wait, Colette realized. That wasn't the same clerk. _Shit._ "Is this Route 4?"

"Lumiose, actually," the clerk said. She looked somewhere between concerned and anxious. "Ah, have any trouble out there, this late at night? You look a little rough."

Colette looked down at her torn-up jacket and at the leaves and petals caught on her clothes. She reached up to her head and gingerly tugged a twig out of her hair. "Pyroar," she explained, feeling weirdly calm. "I think he was kind of desperate for food. I got away, though."

"Oh." The clerk looked at her blankly. "We haven't had any reports of Pyroar this close to civilization."

"Does _this_ report count?" Colette was shaking.

The clerk bit her lip. "Why don't you sit down, dear. Is your Ledyba hurt?" Colette blinked, then looked around. The Ledyba was crawling up the wall over a few couches, waving its antennae cheerfully and talking to itself in soft _ba'_ s.

"No, I think it's fine," she told the clerk tiredly. "Do- do you mind if I stay in here for a while? I don't want to risk trying to go back through the Route like this, and from what I've read the Lumiose Pokemon Centers are usually pretty full..."

"Oh, no, sure, you can stay," the Lumiose clerk said. "I've got to get you to give me a report about the Pyroar, anyway. Usually the police or gym leaders handle it if anyone's seriously hurt, but for something like this you can just talk to us minders."

"Can I do that in the morning?" Colette begged. "I feel like I'm going to _collapse_."

The clerk shrugged, looking only faintly concerned. Seriously? Did this kind of stuff happen so often that _no one_ cared anymore? "That's adrenaline rush for you. And sure, you can crash on one of the couches over there. I think I've even got a blanket behind the counter." She dug around and came up with a camping blanket. "How's this?"

"Thank you," Colette said fervently. "Seriously. Best clerk ever." She wrapped the blanket around her arm and retreated to the couch below the Ledyba, where she pulled off her shoes and tucked them behind her, then curled up under the blanket. The Ledyba flew down to land on her side and look at her with curious eyes.

"Are you going to hang around?" Colette mumbled. The Ledyba bobbed its antennae and moved closer to Colette's face, settling in and flattening its wings beneath its shell. Its legs tickled. "Gonna take that as a yes."

"Ba," her new starter said cheerfully, and after about ten minutes of keeping her eyes firmly closed, Colette drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: *original He-Man voice* Colette is feeling heavy anxiety at the beginning of this chapter. If you regularly have thoughts like that, you might want to reach out to somebody. Also, plant a tree, and don't do drugs.**

 **And does anyone know how to keep the em dash on this website? Every time I save it cuts it down to a single '-' and it's really inconvenient.**

 **Also: this horizontal line thing is both cool and useful and I'm glad to have been told about it.**


	2. Chapter 2

Colette woke up with a bad taste in her mouth. For one woozy moment she had no idea where she was: why was her room so bright? Where was her comforter, and why did she have this little blanket instead?

Why had she fallen asleep in her _clothes_?

She huffed and tried to roll over to go back to sleep, deciding to think about all these problems later- but a small digit tapped her face before she could. "Ledy." What?

Colette sat up and rubbed her eyes, then stared at the Pokemon that had just landed in her lap. The Ledyba waved its antennae and said, "Ba, ledyba!" then did a little dance. Colette blinked, waiting for her brain to reboot.

"Are... you my starter?"

"Ba!"

Colette rubbed her eyes again and looked more closely at the Pokemon. "I don't remember catching you?"

"Ledyba," the Ledyba insisted. It crawled down Colette's body and nudged at her shoes. "Dy, dyba."

The penny dropped. "Shit!" Colette scrambled out of the blanket and to her feet. She was in the Lumiose Gate- she was a _trainer_ \- she'd failed a class? _Fuck._

The clerk looked up from her desk and asked, "Something wrong, dear?"

"I forgot my bag on the route," Colette blurted out. Also, she'd gotten her report card and she'd failed a class and, what, decided to take her toys and go home? Go away from home? What had she been _thinking?_ Too late to turn back now, though, wasn't it, unless she wanted to fail at _this_ , too- "I don't even know if it's still there- can I use your bathroom really fast?" She was suddenly, horribly conscious of her torn-up clothes and her ruined hair. She had to get her bag, but it was probably already gone anyway, and she couldn't go out looking like this...

"Of course." The clerk looked surprised that she'd even asked. "They're just down the hall and to the right. Oh, and wait a moment?" Colette waited, bouncing a little anxiously on her feet, until the clerk reemerged from behind her desk. "Here," she said, proffering a clear little bag. Colette took it and looked inside it: a toothbrush, a little hairbrush and mirror, some wet wipes, mini shampoo and body wash... "We get a lot of new trainers here," the clerk explained with a sympathetic smile, "so we give these to anyone who didn't bring all the right supplies. You'll have to be sure to get some toilet paper in Lumiose, by the way, for when you're camping. Maybe some camping dishes and a cookbook, too."

Colette blushed. "Oh. Okay, thank you." She scurried to the bathroom and was surprised to find the Ledyba clinging to her back and crawling onto her shoulder. "You want to go into the bathroom with me?" One of its antennae brushed her cheek. "Well, okay, but you're staying outside the stall."

She looked in the mirror and saw Colette: Zombie Apocalypse Version staring back. Her hair had twigs and leaves tangled in it all the way past her shoulders, like she was one of those women who followed harvest Legendaries through the woods and killed whatever they approached, and her eyes were bloodshot from lack of solid sleep. Her clothing had rips and tears that turned it from respectable to frightening. She definitely _looked_ like someone who'd survived a Pyroar attack.

This would take _forever_.

No. Be quick about it. She teased the twigs out of her hair one by one, glad of her small fingers for once because they could dissect the tangles, then combed it smooth to get the rest of the leaves and dirt out- no time for showering. She ran the water in the sink and washed her face, discovering a couple of scrapes on her arms and just under her jawline as she did. From when she'd been tackled, maybe. The scrape wasn't as stark on her dark copper skin as it would have been on some of her school friends- one of whom was so pale her veins showed on the backs of her hands- but it still made Colette look like a poor unfortunate waif of a trainer. She grimaced at her reflection, and the Ledyba finally got tired of waiting and watching and decided to climb onto her head.

She brushed her teeth with the Ledyba sitting on her like a dapper hat and poking at the mirror with a curious chitter, then removed it- "Guard my stuff, okay?"- to do her business. She couldn't change clothes without clothes to change into, but she did the next best thing and tied her ripped-up jacket around her waist instead. Her shirt wasn't as damaged underneath, luckily.

"How's this?" she asked the Ledyba when she came out, and the Ledyba tore its attention away from the mirror to stare at her uncomprehendingly. "Never mind. Here, come on, we're going."

The Ledyba flew back to her shoulder, snuggled up against her neck like a weird accessory, and Colette couldn't stop a smile from making its way onto her face.

She made sure to give a report of the Pyroar attack to the clerk before she left.

* * *

Route 4 in daylight was a tourist destination for trainers and non-trainers alike, and even in the early hours of the morning there were people out in the flowers with their Pokemon, playing and talking and even sometimes battling. Colette tried to remember her vague knowledge of trainer stuff and thought that maybe the more serious battles happened away from the main path, where they wouldn't risk accidentally hitting someone's child.

Not too far, though, or they'd risk serious Pokemon attacks. Colette saw a few charred patches of grass where the Pyroar had raged and suppressed a shiver. At least it wasn't still around.

The Ledyba stayed on Colette's shoulder as she walked, but buzzed and chirped to other Pokemon occasionally: a pair of male Combee, a Skitty that was trying to furret away someone's sandwich while he was distracted with a battle, and another Ledyba, who buzzed right back and came up close to touch antennae with Colette's. "Is this a friend of yours?"

"Ledyba," the Ledyba agreed. The other Ledyba flew back into the bushes, and Colette's Ledyba wilted a little sadly.

Colette bit her lip. "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to," she said. "You have friends here, don't you? You could stay with them."

The Ledyba buzzed low and hunkered down on Colette's shoulder. "Le _dy."_

"You're sure?" Buzz. "Okay, then. I won't let you down."

 _Not like you let your family down, let yourself down, let everyone down-_

She dodged past a battle between a Ralts and a Fennekin and made her way down a familiar-looking hedge maze, ducking down near the dirt and rooting around in one of the sparser bushes. Her hand hit fabric, and she gave a huff of triumph and tugged out her bag: still okay, somehow, but a little torn near the top. She dug around inside it and found everything just as she'd left it, and the relief was staggering. "Guess what, Ledyba? I can catch you properly now."

The Ledyba landed next to her and bumped into her hand. Colette looked through the Pokeballs and spotted a touch of white among the red. "They gave me a Premier Ball?" She pulled it out and admired its shiny surface for a moment, then showed it to her prospective starter. "How's this?"

The Ledyba bobbed its head, backed up a couple paces, and looked at her expectantly. "Ba, ledyba."

"What do you want me to do?" Colette asked, completely baffled. She raised the Premier Ball, and the Ledyba bounced and cheered. "You want me to throw it? Why can't I just touch you with it?"

"Ba!" The Ledyba shook its head and tapped a leg on the ground like a teacher trying to prove a point. "Ba, ba, ba. Led ledyba."

"We've got to do things properly?" Colette guessed. The Ledyba nodded. "Okay, um. Don't dodge too much." She raised the premier ball, tried to calculate angles, and tossed it. It hit the Ledyba by what she was pretty sure was just chance and pulled it in with a burst of light. The Pokeball shook once, twice, three times- and clicked, settling onto the ground.

Colette walked over to let her starter out and got a Ledyba straight to the face.

"Led, led, led, ledyba!" the Ledyba cheered. Colette pulled it off her nose and mouth so she could breathe and looked at the Pokemon in her arms with an expression of amazement.

"No wonder you answered me, if you're this interested in having a trainer," she said, a little dazed. "It's nice to meet you properly, then, Ledyba. I promise I'll give you a nickname when I get my trainer license."

They went back, and were halfway back to the Lumiose Gate when a boy met Colette's eyes and called, "Hey, girl with the Ledyba! Wanna battle me?"

Colette yelped and jumped back as he released a Flabebe onto the grass between them and gave a challenging grin. "I'd really rather not battle right now," she tried to explain. "I only just got this Ledyba, and I don't even have my trainer license yet-"

"You sure about that?" the boy asked. He didn't look much older than her, but she got the feeling he'd been training for longer. _Great._ "We don't have to battle for money, just, uh... I'll wager a Great Ball, and you'll wager three Pokeballs. Whoever wins gets it all."

"I don't know about this," Colette said reluctantly, but her Ledyba flew in front of her and buzzed menacingly anyway. " _And..._ I've been outvoted."

The boy perked up. "All right! Be aware, I'm almost certain to win." Colette's fists clenched.

"We'll see about that." She met the other trainer's eyes, watched for his nod (battle _start!)_ and called, "Ledyba, use Swift!" The Ledyba summoned bright yellow stars and threw them at the Flabebe before she finished the command.

"Fairy Wind!" the other trainer ordered, the Flabebe turning back with a worried expression, and the glittering wind slammed into the stars and smashed them to nothing. Colette stared, and the other trainer said, "What? You thought she was weak?"

Colette glared. She had _not._ "Ledyba, Supersonic!" The Ledyba opened its mouth and gave the same piercing scream as before, and both Colette and her opponent slammed their hands over their ears. The Flabebe staggered midair and made a distressed sound, keening like she wasn't sure what was going on, and Colette took the opportunity to add over the ringing in her ears, "Now Tackle!"

The Ledyba hit the Flabebe hard, knocking her to the ground, but she floated back up after a moment and narrowed her eyes. "Vine Whip!" her trainer called, and she pulled out two long, sinuous vines, wrapping around the Ledyba and slamming it down. The Ledyba struggled and tried to shriek another Supersonic, but its voice was too muffled.

Colette yelled, "Swift again!" and the Ledyba sent more stars to hit the Flabebe, cutting it across the face, but the Flabebe only tightened its hold until the Ledyba cried out in pain.

"Do you yield?" her opponent called out. "He's not gonna be able to get out of this."

Colette faltered, looking at the Ledyba, and then slumped and returned him. "I yield," she said pointlessly, cheeks burning with embarrassment. What a stupid way to lose your first battle. Squeezed by a little Fairy-type until you can't move? And it was her fault, she was the trainer and she'd already _failed_... "What do you mean 'he'?" she asked, trying to distract herself. "Is it because of the antennae? I've never seen a female Ledyba to compare, so I wasn't sure..."

"He's a he," the other trainer confirmed. "My sister had a female Ledyba, and her antennae were shorter." He came up and offered a hand. "Good battle. Was that your first one?"

Colette tried to keep her eyes from burning. "Yeah, it, uh. Yeah. That obvious?" Of course it was. What else could she expect?"

"Most people don't get so upset after losing a little battle unless it's their first time," the trainer explained gently. "Here, how 'bout this, you keep the Pokeballs. If you're gonna build your team, you need 'em more than I do."

Colette shook her head. "We made a wager. I'm not going to renege on that just because I got a little teary." She pulled out three Pokeballs from her bag and handed them over. "Here. For all your Pokemon-catching needs."

The other trainer smiled; there was a little gap between his front teeth, Colette realized, that made him look more earnest and friendly than he probably actually was. "All right, thank you. And in return-" He pressed a Great Ball into her hand. "I'll give you this. For all your Pokemon-catching needs."

Colette blinked hard, then rubbed her eyes viciously. "Thanks," she mumbled, putting the Great Ball in her bag. Great. Pity, just what she needed. Like she wasn't enough of a failure. "I'm Colette."

"Felix," the other trainer said. His eyes were very bright and very blue. "You headed to Santalune?"

Colette shook her head. "Lumiose. I've got to get my trainers' license at the Pokemon Center there."

"Darn." Felix shook his head slowly, like he was laughing at himself. "Oh, well. If you're going to Lumiose, I'll recommend the food trucks near the Route 4 entrance. They're set up there pretty much every day, and if you're in the mood for crepes they're your best bet."

Colette's stomach growled. Crepes sounded _really_ good right about then. "Thanks." She tried a smile, and was surprised at how easy it was. "I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

Colette had been to Lumiose City before- once with her family and once with a school group- but she had never been there alone. The city was somehow both more beautiful and more intimidating when she was there alone, feeling less familiar and more like a challenge. Colette caught herself thinking of homework and all the deadlines coming up and felt queasy- but no, she wasn't in school anymore, was she? She was supposed to be in school, but she wasn't. She was out here in Lumiose City, walking over the threshold and looking for a crepe stand instead.

The feeling she got at the thought was so weird that she pushed it down and elected to ignore it.

She got a crepe stuffed with banana and chocolate-hazelnut spread and ate like she hadn't eaten in weeks, sharing bits and pieces with her Ledyba whenever he stopped trying to get in the other stalls' supplies and came back to remonstrate with her about whatever he'd seen. A couple of stall owners gave her dirty looks, and she glared at them. Let the Ledyba do what he wanted; it was his first time in the city!

The Ledyba took flight again and went across the street to another stall, this time one selling T-shirts with pictures of Lumiose Tower and other tourist things. Colette dodged a couple of Kantonese tourists and joined him. The shopkeeper perked up when he saw her and nudged his Froakie awake as she approached.

"Hello! Is this your Ledyba?" He pointed to the Bug-type crawling over his wares; Colette started and scooped the Ledyba up, surprised at how sturdy he felt even as a relatively fragile Pokemon.

"Yeah, he is. Sorry, I think..." The shopkeeper was looking at her clothes, she realized, and just like that she remembered how ratty she still looked. A rush of embarrassment hit her mood where it hurt, and she had to remind herself to stand up straight and keep her chin up. Legends, she must have looked terrible.. "I wanted to buy a shirt?"

The shopkeeper seemed to come back to himself and smiled sheepishly. "Ah! Of course! What size? Gerard, get ready to select a few samples!" The Froakie nodded and croaked, glancing at the Ledyba with wide-set eyes.

"Um, small," Colette said a little awkwardly, "And can I get the blue one- up there- with the, no, to the left, yeah, that one! With the Tower on the front." Gerard the Froakie pulled the shirt down and held it out to her, and Colette dug out her wallet. "How much is it?"

The shopkeeper rattled off an amount, and Colette paid. "Thank you for your business!"

Colette started to walk away, happy to have something to change into, then paused. "Which way is the Pokemon Center?" The shopkeeper pointed, and she nodded, setting off in that direction with her new shirt over her arm.

There was a girl playing guitar outside the Pokemon Center, case open in front of her with a few Pokedollars thrown in. Colette paused for a moment, recognizing the tune, but went in immediately after tossing a few Pokedollars in as a tip. She had a trainer license to receive.

She changed into her new shirt before she went up to any of the help desks, though. There was no point looking like a slob. Then she made a Combee-line to the desk with a Pokeball symbol on the wall behind it and asked, "Is this where I can get a trainer license?"

"It is," the man behind the counter said, looking up from his computer screen. He had the glazed look of someone who spent way too much time playing League of Legendaries. Colette would know- her brother Nick had spent most of his teenage years after coming back from his journey looking just the same. "You'll have to wait a little bit. There's an orientation, and Bonnie likes to meet trainers one on one."

Colette nodded and went to sit on one of the black couches in front of the TV. The Ledyba asked, "Ba, ledyba?" and crawled up to perch on top of the TV, apparently studying the wiring behind the screen. Colette wondered if he had any risk of electrocuting himself and decided she might as well leave him to it.

The news was playing: Litleonid Corp, or Leo Corp as the anchor called it, was developing a new variation on the Pokeball. One of the Hoenn Elite Four had given a talk on Ghost Pokemon at a Kalos university , and cameras had picked a little girl watching her from the back of the stage who had disappeared just as the Elite left. A trainer traveling from the Sinnoh region had gone missing, and investigators were plumbing the Laverre Nature Trail for her body.

Gone missing, presumed dead. Colette shivered and consoled herself with the thought that Pokemon training wasn't nearly as dangerous as it had been a century ago. Back then, the Routes had extended into the wilderness to either side of them, and little kids would often wander off and be eaten by Carnivine or Pyroar, their Pokemon too small and too weak to defend them. Ever since the worldwide agreement to standardize the Route paths and keep inexperienced trainers out of any wilderness too far from human habitation, trainer death rates had fallen by nearly eighty percent. Now, if you wanted to go substantially off-route, you either had to have at least six badges or badge-equivalents from any region, or you needed special permission from a gym leader or Champion. Both of those were rare enough even for trainers that people stayed out of harm's way.

That was one of the few trainer things Colette had bothered to learn. The rest of the time she'd liked to focus on the behaviors of wild Pokemon, which were infinitely more interesting than any human-Pokemon relations.

Of course, now that she was _living_ human-Pokemon relations, she was starting to regret that.

"Miss Lacebark?" the man at the counter called. Colette jumped to her feet. Her Ledyba didn't seem keen on leaving those wires any time soon...

"Is it all right if my Ledyba stays out here? He won't cause any problems."

The man shrugged. "Sure, but you're liable for any damage it causes."

Colette frowned. She probably couldn't afford a new TV. "Ledyba? Could you come down here, please?" The Ledyba looked over at her and crawled completely behind the TV. Colette cast a self-conscious glance at the man at the counter, who was looking at his screen with a bored expression, and went closer to the TV. A trainer with a Bunnelby glared at her as she clambered onto the couch and stood up, partially blocking the TV screen. "Ledyba, come on," Colette hissed. "You're making me look bad."

Making both of them look bad, really. Colette thought she felt judging eyes on her already, like the whole Pokemon Center was watching her fail at a trainer's most basic task. "Ledyba!"

The Bug Pokemon finally looked back up to her and chittered, hovering up and landing on her shoulders. Colette felt a rush of cold relief and stepped off the couch, pressing the Ledyba down on her shoulder so he didn't fly off again.

The man showed her into a room behind the counter. There was a desk in it with a cluster of computer screens at one end, and a little love seat at the other. There were posters, too, plastered all over the walls: one for the previous year's Indigo League, an Espurr holding onto a branch with the caption _Hang in There,_ a tall poster of Lumiose Tower...

Someone cleared their throat, and Colette startled. "I've never seen someone so engrossed in those posters! Is this your first time in Lumiose or something?"

The speaker was a young blonde woman with her hair twisted back in a neat little bun and a lab coat that almost trailed on the floor. Her smile was as bright as a Thunderbolt. "Colette Lacebark, right? I'm Assistant Researcher Bonnie- my older brother's the Lumiose gym leader."

"Y-yeah. I'm..." Wait, the researcher had already said her name. "This is my Ledyba. I'm not sure what to call him yet." The Ledyba chirruped and waved a leg, then started to investigate the posters on the wall. Colette watched him carefully for a moment in case he got into the vents or something, then turned to Bonnie and asked, "There's an orientation?"

"That's right!" Bonnie said cheerfully. "Here, sit down, it'll make this a lot easier." She took a seat in one of the spinning desk chairs, and Colette sat on the couch.

Bonnie folded her hands in her lap and leaned forward, expression going more serious. "This is more of a formality for anyone who's been to trainer school, but it's still required by law. So there's no test for your license in Kalos except whether or not you can sit through this conversation! Ready to pay attention?

Colette nodded eagerly. She was _epic_ at paying attention to new information.

"Right! So, Colette, can you tell me how many trainers die each year on their journeys?"

"Um." Colette scoured her brain for statistics. "About one hundred, right?"

Bonnie nodded. "That's right. Now. Can you tell me how many go missing?"

Colette drew a blank. Her panic must have shown on her face, because Bonnie laughed and said, "Hey, don't worry! This isn't a test. The answer is no one knows. Each year about two hundred trainers are reported missing in Kalos, and about one hundred of them get bodies that match their descriptions after a while. For every trainer who _is_ reported missing, though, there's likely to be a lot who aren't. Every decade or so we go back through trainer registries and take a census to see who's still around, and you know what? We found that one year, as many as four hundred trainers went missing, half of them unreported. There's a lot of ways a body can disappear in the wilds."

"Oh." Colette tried to think of a question to show she was following along. "Was that the year with the Legend attack? Um, Zygarde, right?"

Colette vaguely remembered an attack by Legendary Pokemon from when she was still a little kid- maybe three or four, barely old enough to form memories. Nick and her parents had kept her close and had watched the news as reports flooded in of a chasm opening under Geosenge and three Legendary beasts running across the region. There had been Xerneas, who didn't attack anything except for the other Legends, and Zygarde, thrown into a rage...

"It was actually Yveltal," Bonnie corrected, and Colette felt stung. Stupid. There was no reason to feel like she'd just disappointed someone. It wasn't like _Bonnie_ cared. "But yes, it was. They've been calling the life-stealing attack it used Oblivion Wing for what it did to populated areas."

Colette winced. She remembered that, too. One of her classmates' parents had been killed in the office building in Cyllage where she worked. Their whole class had held a moment of silence, and Tony had just cried, not even bothering to hide it... That was the kind of thing that happened when really powerful Pokemon went on rampages. That was the kind of thing that trainers were meant to _stop._ "So you're telling me this so I'll know the risks?"

"Something like that! Though, things aren't as bad as they used to be." Bonnie looked troubled. "You know, when I was little and still working in my big brother's gym, we'd regularly get trainers in who'd lost two or three Pokemon to trainer battles or wild Pokemon attacks, or who were scarred after just a few gym badges. It's part of what made me want to be a researcher instead of a trainer. We're really lucky that new trainers don't have to go through all of that."

It hadn't just been the new Route laws that had helped with that, either, Colette remembered. Yveltal and Zygarde had disappeared back to where they'd come from after the incident a decade ago, but Xerneas had stuck around for a little bit, having befriended an independent researcher. It had helped the researcher and his team to develop better potions and revives and medical technology by letting them study how its own abilities worked- Colette had seen a whole _documentary_ on the subject. Nowadays, because of Xerneas, most scars and wounds could be treated so they'd go away in a matter of days on both people and Pokemon, and medical technology had advanced to the point that people's limbs could be reattached. Xerneas had even jumpstarted the previously-fringe field of neuroregenerative therapies.

Colette's parents were atheists, but after Nick had gotten over a bad concussion without any negative side effects, she'd caught her mother wearing a jeweled-antler charm once or twice. Legendary Pokemon were powerful symbols.

"Definitely lucky," Colette agreed. "I don't think I would have gone on a trainer journey if it were ten years ago."

"You'd be surprised," Bonnie said wryly. "Back then it just seemed normal! Rites of passage weren't supposed to be easy, you know? Of course kids would die. And the ones that were stronger would survive, and that would be that." She tapped the arm of her chair and added, "We're supposed to be talking about right now, aren't we? So I'm obligated to warn you that there's still a risk that either you or a Pokemon will die. Especially- no offense- but especially if you have a weak starter. How many moves does your Ledyba know?"

"Three," Colette said, somewhere between surprised and miffed at the slight to her starter's honor. "Tackle, Supersonic, and Swift. He's smart, too." Well, probably.

Bonnie nodded. "That's more than I would have expected," she admitted, "but a Ledyba is still a weaker Pokemon overall. You'll have to catch another one pretty quickly if you want to make sure you're protected right as you continue your journey. When did you catch him?"

Now it was Colette's turn to make an admission. "Yesterday? It was kind of a weird day for me."

Bonnie laughed a little. "Aren't they _all,_ for trainers?" She cleared her throat. "Anyway, now that we're done with the warnings, I'll have to tell you some of the Kalos League's rules.

One- only carry six Pokemon on you at a time. You can carry more if it's an emergency, if you have no access to a PC, or if you have a Breeder's License, but otherwise you stick to six.

Two- any Pokemon dangerous enough to be considered a threat to civilized areas has to be kept inside its Pokeball within towns and cities unless you take an exam that proves you have it completely under control. You can tell if it's allowed in civilized areas if you scan it with your Pokedex.

Three- killing another trainer's Pokemon in a battle is immediate disqualification in any tournament or gym challenge, and if it happens more than three times in random trainer battles your trainer license will be called into question. _Always_ report it if your Pokemon kills another trainer's Pokemon. If you don't and they do, and you didn't make an agreement that they'd report it for you beforehand, it's treated the same way as a hit and run accident.

Four- Stay on or near the designated routes at all times. If you go off-route you might not be found for weeks, and if you're found to have deliberately gone off-route, you'll be subject to heavy fines."

Bonnie told her a few more rules that had to do with paperwork- always make sure to update your trainer license and Pokedex whenever you get a new Pokemon or gym badge, and stuff like that- then grinned and stood up. "You can find the more minor rules on the League website. Take out your trainer license for discounts at Pokemarts, shops, and whatever else might give you a coupon- that'll save your wallet. Other than that, all I've got to say is good luck!"

Colette felt a little dazed, but she shook Bonnie's hand regardless. "Thank you," she said. "Hey, Ledyba, we're going!" The Ledyba stopped dozing by the door- he'd gotten _really_ bored- and flew up to land on Colette's shoulder. "So we can just get the trainer license and stuff from the man at the counter now?"

"That's right," Bonnie said. Colette thanked her again and left the room, heading straight for the trainer information desk. She had to wait in line behind a boy with messy hair and an eerily floating Beldum for a straight five minutes before the man at the counter finally called her up.

"Got the whole doom spiel?" he asked. Colette made a face and nodded, and he chuckled. "Yeah, Bonnie likes pulling that out. Always had a flare for the dramatic, that one." He pressed a few buttons and said, "Smile!" Colette made her Picture Face- smiling, crinkled eyes so she didn't look evil, relaxed expression- as fast as she could, and then waited a moment as the card printed. "Here you go," the man said, handing it to her, and Colette stared at it, almost spellbound. As shiny a red as her starter's carapace, and affording more prestige than she'd ever thought she'd need. Trainers were members of a community that Colette had only ever wanted to join from the academic side.

And now she _was_ one. It was enough to give her vertigo.

"Here's your badge case and Pokedex," the man said next, handing over a few more items. "There's a few cases you can choose from for the Pokedex. Most of 'em cost extra, though, unless you get one of the promotional ones." He motioned at a few cases with corporate logos: Hoenn's Devon Corp, Silph Corp, Champion Diantha's fashion line, Litleonid Corp... oh, hey, that was where Nick worked. Colette chose a Leo case, black with a fiery blue-yellow logo, and felt a little more grounded.

"Thank you," Colette said sincerely. "Anything else?"

The man shrugged. "That's it. Don't forget to register your Ledyba there in your Pokedex, though, or he won't be recognized as legally yours."

"Will do," Colette promised, and she left the Pokemon Center before she remembered that she should have called her parents.

Oh, well. She had a phone, as much as she didn't really use it for calling people. She could use it. But first...

Colette took out the Ledyba's Pokeball and recalled him, then used the Pokedex to scan it. _Ledyba,_ it said on the screen. _The Five Star Pokemon. It is timid and clusters with others with others. The fluid secreted by its feet indicates its location._ Colette flipped through a few other entries- Ledyba got cold easily, they smelled sour when they were angry, they were weak to a lot of different types, they were more active when they were in a group... Colette tapped the icon for her specific Ledyba and was transported to a keyboard.

 _Nickname this Pokemon?_

She let the Ledyba back out. "Sorry, I just had to register you," she told him when he buzzed angrily, and he cooled and landed on her shoulder, poking at the Pokedex with interest. _Lkj,_ he managed to type. That definitely wasn't going to be his name.

Maybe it could start with an 'L'?

"I'm trying to think of a name for you," Colette explained at her starter's inquiring _ba._ "Do you already have one? Nod for yes, shake your head for no." She demonstrated, and after a moment the Ledyba shook his head _no_. Colette felt a triumphant thrill- she _knew_ he was smart.

"Okay. So I'm going to go through a bunch of names, and you nod when I reach one you like. Ready?"

"Ledy!"

"I'm taking that as a yes." She thought of the baby name websites she used to browse when she wanted to write stories in elementary school and decided to go in alphabetical order. "Abraham, Boris, Ciel, Derrick, Elliot, Fithian, Giannini, Harris, Illim, Jericho, Kai, Luciano..."

"Ba!" The Ledyba clambered up onto her face, and she got a eyeful of cream carapace. "Ba ledyba!"

"Luciano?" she guessed. She reached up and plucked the Ledyba off her face, holding him in front of her like a doll. "Luci?"

"Ba-a!"

She grinned. "Luci! Okay." She typed _Luciano_ in as the nickname and clicked _enter._ "Welcome, officially, to my nonexistent team, Luciano."

Luci reached and patted her face with a leg, then startled and squirmed out of her arms when her phone exploded into sound. Colette dug it out of her bag- was it really only 7:30 AM? She'd really gotten up early- and stared at the caller ID with growing dread.

"Ledyba," Luci told her, and she sighed.

"Yeah, I guess a call would get it over with faster." She answered and held it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Colette Ariadne Lacebark," her mother's voice demanded. "Where are you right now?"

Colette winced. "With my starter," she said awkwardly, "outside of a Pokemon Center in Lumiose. I'm going on a trainer journey." Colette saw the girl playing guitar by the door look up as her voice raised, and she flushed, moving away from the Pokemon Center doors.

"Yes, that much was clear," her mother drawled. "In fact? That's the only thing that's clear! What possessed you to just leave a _note_ and go haring off into the evening to catch a Pokemon? Did you know, your father just talked to the man at the Route 4 gate, and he told us you said you had a Marill?"

"I didn't _say_ I had a Marill," Colette said, almost offended. "I implied it! You always say it's fine to let people run away with assumptions if it's beneficial to you!" Her mother was a businesswoman; she knew what she was talking about.

"I didn't mean that for when _you_ were running away!" Colette's heart dropped. Her mom sounded seriously angry. "Do you know how worried we were when we came home this morning and you weren't in bed? When we called the school and found out you'd never arrived?"

"I left a note," she said weakly. "On the fridge. I thought it was pretty self-explanatory."

"It wasn't," her mother growled. "And you aren't going on a journey. I never even thought you'd _want_ to go on one- not after what happened to Nick!"

"Nick's fine! He was _fine!_ One little accident-"

"It killed half his team," her mother said, and Colette's words caught in her throat. She hadn't known that. "His Diggersby, his Swalot, his Honedge- he even released his Litleo afterwards, because he couldn't stand the thought of getting it killed. Why did you think he came home with Carlotta and refused to go out again? It wasn't because he'd decided to hate every Pokemon but Aromatisse!" Her voice went quieter. "The concussion didn't ruin him, but the accident did. I'm not having the same thing happen to you, not with how similar the two of you are. You're coming home. I'll even let you keep your starter and battle locally, if you like."

Colette gripped the phone tight and ducked away from the street to hiss into the phone, "I'm not doing that! You think I want to go back to class and have everyone looking at me because I _failed the grade?_ What if I have to repeat it?"

"You haven't failed it yet," her mother said impatiently. "You'll do extra credit, find a way to pass. Then you can use your struggles in an essay for university."

"Mom, there's no _point!_ This isn't a one-time thing. It's a trend, okay? I haven't been good at schoolwork since I went into high school. I wouldn't be good at it if I got put back in ninth grade, or even with everyone else in eighth. I just can't do it! I'm _physically._ Unable. To do it!" Her eyes were burning, this time mostly from frustration. "I'm not going back to a classroom with all the kids I left behind in it, either. They'll all just- laugh, and they'll know I'm not as smart as Nick no matter how hard I try, and, and- I'm _not_ giving up on this. I've already got my trainer license. I'm going, and you can't stop me. You _can't_."

"You're hysterical," her mother told her, and Colette wanted to pull her own hair out, throw her phone at the wall, anything- so what if she were hysterical? So fucking _what?_ She'd made a decision. She'd go through with the decision. She wouldn't spend her whole life running after a chance she'd already lost just because her mom thought she couldn't handle anything else, wouldn't slave for another three years of school just to come to nothing- she'd already come to nothing. Her future was a closed door. "Look, Colette- just wait there, okay? I'll come up to Lumiose, we can talk things out-"

"I don't want to talk things out," Colette said. Her face felt wet, and she felt Luci dab at her tears with a concerned hum, pressing close as if to comfort. "I want to keep being a trainer. Why can't you just let me do this?" She wanted to see her mom, though. She wanted to comfort of familiarity, of someone who'd always help her out if she needed it, who'd always have more experience and who would know what to _do._

 _Dependent, much? Aren't you supposed to be smart? To be_ capable? _You can't just go running back to mommy every time you have a problem-_

"Colette," her mother said over the phone, and Colette rubbed her eyes. "You know this isn't your only option. It might seem that way right now, but it really isn't. You can still get into a good university if you work for it. We can have you put just one grade ahead, in ninth. You don't have to run off half-cocked on a dangerous rite of passage."

"I'm not," Colette said miserably. She totally was. " _Mom_. I promise, I really have to do this. I want to be a trainer for a while. Even if it's just so I can take a break from school."

She heard her mom sigh over the camera. "Let's make a compromise," she said, always the reasonable one. Colette was starting to feel less frustrated and more wrung-out, like a towel dried of water. Riding out the second half of her crying fit, maybe. "You stay in Lumiose for a few days, training on Routes 4 and 5. I'll come up to meet you in three days or so, and until then I'll tell your school that you're sick. If you want to come home after that, you can, and we can work something out. If you want to keep being a trainer-" Her mom sounded reluctant- "I suppose we'll work something out for that instead. Okay?"

Colette felt somewhere between overwrought and oddly calm. Trust her mother to be calm enough for both of them. "Okay," she agreed, voice more clear now that it wasn't choked with tears. "I can do that. That's cool."

"All right," her mother said. "Be careful, then, won't you, Colette? I love you."

"I love you too," Colette echoed, and the call ended. She took a sharp breath and went to sit on a bench, Luci babbling to her in obvious concern, and put her head in her hands. _Stupid_.

No. Deep breaths, that was it. In, out. In, out. Calm down. She could do that, right?

She could at least do _that._

* * *

 **A/N: The spelling of 'ferret' as 'furret' up there is intentional, btw. Best sock Pokemon. Also, thanks for all the reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

Colette managed to get her emotions under control after a few more minutes, and Luciano spent that time exploring the area and buzzing threateningly at anyone who got too close. He went after Fletchling especially, sending the little bird Pokemon flying when they were alone and retreating back to Colette's bench when they started to team up. The Fletchling were just starting to get braver and mount a proper counterattack when Colette got tired of the constant fighting and smacked one out of the air herself. _Super effective_. They went off to harass a tourist for her granola bars after that.

"Ledyba?" Luci asked her, bopping her hand with a leg. "Led led ledy, baba." He sounded like someone on a TV show imparting a valuable life lesson, all sincerity and certainty.

"I'll keep that in mind," Colette said for lack of ideas, and she stood up and stretched. Her new shirt rode up and showed her belly button when she did; oh, well, it figured that something picked up so quickly would be too small. "Where do you want to go? We've already got reservations at the Pokemon Center, so if there's something you want to check out...?" Luci chittered and climbed onto the top of her backpack, holding on like he was part of her gear. His antennae brushed the back of Colette's neck and sent an uncomfortable thrill up her spine. "Ah! Luci, no, I'm ticklish there! You- no, get off-!"

He ended up climbing onto her head instead, and Colette made a note to herself to get a hat.

They wandered around Lumiose until the sun was higher in the sky, sightseeing and occasionally giving tourists directions. There was a lot to see; even aside from the city itself, there were fashion models loitering in front of boutiques, fully evolved Pokemon lounging next to their trainers, and rainbows of Vivillon hanging around the buildings. Colette caught some people gasping in delight and taking pictures of the butterfly Pokemon as they fluttered in the air, so she thought that maybe they weren't usually around. A migration, probably.

Colette bought a berry shake and taught Luci how to use a straw; Luci picked a fight with a stray Skitty and got them kicked out of a cafe. After that she convinced her starter to cool his jets until a proper battle came along.

She couldn't help talking, though, as they passed some of the marvels she hadn't been old enough to appreciate the last time she'd been there. "You see that building right there? The elaborate facade is a signature of the Kalosian Rococo style. It's like Baroque except more ornate, and there's this huge focus on decorativeness and asymmetry-" Luciano seemed happy enough listening to her prattle on, even though she was pretty sure it was just because he liked the company. She started to feel like _she_ liked the company, too, so to oblige them both she kept going.

"That old cathedral has Zweilous gargoyles at every corner of the roof to chase away Ghost Pokemon. Know why that is? It's because ghosts are weak to Dark-types, so the thought went that if they were repelled by real Dark-types maybe they'd be repelled by fake ones, too. It's not really the shape of the gargoyles that chase them off so much as the fact that the stone was imbued with Dark-type energy before it was sculpted. It's supposed to be from a separate quarry than the rest of the stone, from somewhere in Orre where a lot of Dark-types have lived for thousands of years. The king at the time added them as a last-minute addition to the cathedral that Kalosians had been working on for over three hundred years."

"Wow, that's really fascinating," someone said beside her, and Colette jumped a little, swerving to look. The round-faced woman laughed and waved her off. "Oh, don't worry, dear, I just heard you talking to your Ledyba and couldn't help getting sucked in. It's not usual that I see someone so young this interested in architecture."

"I'm interested in a lot of things," Colette said, feeling sheepish. "I've always thought architecture's pretty cool, though. Do you, um, are you a tourist? I could maybe tell you more, if you want." It would, she reasoned, help with her public speaking, and would probably calm her down... "Fair warning, though, I'm going from memory, so I don't know if some of this stuff is completely accurate."

"That's perfectly all right," the woman said with a motherly smile. "Wait a moment, please? Greg! Greg, come over here, I've found a tour guide!" She turned back to Colette with a wink and said, "Don't worry, we'll pay you for your time. New trainer, right? You've got a good command of Unovan."

Colette hadn't even realized they'd been speaking Unovan until the tourist had pointed it out. "Thank you! Um, I'm Colette."

"I'm Lacey," the woman said, "and that's my husband Greg, I'll introduce him if he ever manages to _get over here!_ "

Greg waved her off, moving to scoop a toddler in a Pichu onesie off the sidewalk, and waited for a Gogoat rider to pass before crossing the street. "Safety first," he said, depositing the toddler in Lacey's arms. "You said something about a tour?"

So that was how Colette ended up giving two Unovan tourists- rapidly joined by a cluster of Hoennese students, an old lady with a Kanto flag pin on her jacket, and someone she thought might have been _Alolan_ \- a full introduction to the architecture and history of Lumiose City. She was suddenly _very_ glad that she'd given a whole presentation on this subject for the final project that had let her skip the ninth grade. They peeled off after a while, with the Unovans leaving last. Lacey thanked Colette profusely before she left and, when Colette refused her money, pressed a velvet pouch into her hands instead.

"It's more useful for an active trainer than it could be for me," she said with a conspiratorial smile. "Make sure you don't break it, all right?"

"Um," Colette said, but Lacey was already trailing after her husband. Colette yelled, "Thank you!" after her just to be safe and put the pouch in her bag for safekeeping. She could look at it later. Right now, Luci was trying to lead her to a poster of Prism Tower, and she got the feeling it was his turn to take the lead.

The tower itself was closed, though, and the reason was immediately obvious: there was a battle happening in front of it that was sending sparks and dirt flying all over the square. Luci cheered at the sight of it.

Colette had been under the impression that the battles happened inside the gym, but these two trainers- a dark-haired girl in a colorful hoodie and a man she was pretty sure was Clemont, considering the robot arms whirling at his back- were definitely fighting it out in the main square. A few gym trainers stood by with their Electric-type Pokemon, keeping the audience from getting too close. Luciano fluttered down to the ground and looked up at Colette pleadingly. "You want to watch?" He hopped and nodded eagerly, like he was waiting for her to come with before he flew- oh. Ledyba were social, weren't they, and she was his trainer. Well, she supposed she'd have to get into watching Pokemon battles if she were going to be a trainer anyway, right? "Okay, climb on! We're getting closer to the fight."

Colette squeezed through the growing crowd until she got to the front, close enough that one of the gym trainers gave her a warning look, and Luciano scrambled into her arms to watch with avid eyes. The challenger had a Dewott out against Clemont's Heliolisk. "What's happening?" she whispered, frowning. Was the challenger on her last Pokemon or something?

A man next to her said under his breath, not looking at her, "It's a three-on-three fight. Her Whimsicott managed to poison his Emolga badly enough to make him return it and left a bunch of Stun Spore all over the field. Her Klang managed to beat out his Magneton but got one-shotted by a Ground-type move." The man's Dustox murmured something from where it hovered above his head, and he reached up to stroke its side absentmindedly. "They're in the final stretch now."

"Thanks," Colette said awkwardly, not sure of the protocol for random trainer conversations, and turned her attention over to the battle.

"Get ready!" the challenger was calling out, making Colette frown again, but the Dewott seemed to know just what its trainer was saying. The Heliolisk dove in for a Quick Attack and the Dewott crossed its arms to block; then, before its opponent could escape, it caught it by the tail and, simmering red, slammed it into the ground. The Heliolisk's head snapped back with a sharp motion, but it stood up anyway and glared, backing out of the Dewott's range.

"Revenge," Colette murmured, recognizing it from documentaries she'd watched a few years back, and Luci buzzed excitedly against her chest.

Clemont sighed, looked his Heliolisk up and down, and called out, "Use Thunderbolt!" The Heliolisk started to spark, some of the TV cameras moved to catch the motion, and to Colette's surprise, the challenger started to grin.

"Hah, yes, here's our chance! Freddie, use your lightning rod!" The Dewott snickered and pulled a glinting object out from behind a scalchop, tossing it up in the air just as the Heliolisk released its attack. The Thunderbolt diverted to hit the tiny metal ball and sent it to the ground smoking. It set a tiny patch of stun spore aflame.

Clemont stared. "What was that?" he demanded. "You aren't allowed to use any unauthorized technology in a gym battle, you know."

The challenger whooped and high-fived her Dewott when it ran back and held up its hand. "You said we could use held items, didn't you? That was a Metal Coat!"

Clemont dragged a hand across his face. "Of course," he sighed, loud enough for the audience to hear, but he looked like he was starting to smile. "Of course I'd get the one challenger who thinks outside the box _now_. It's time to finish this. Heliolisk, we're prepping for the final round. _Electric Terrain_!" The Heliolisk hunkered down and started to spark and glow, frilling like a miniature sun- and Colette realized three important things, all at once:

One, that some of the cameras were verging on to the field, and at least one of them was near the ground.

Two, that the challenger was basically standing within the battlefield.

And three, that she'd just seen part of the arena catch fire, and that had been _from_ an Electric-type move-

"Shit," the man next to her breathed, already moving, and Colette babbled,

"Wait, challenger, get out of the arena!"

The older girl glanced over at her with a confused expression just as the Heliolisk released its power. For one second the move seemed to crackle across the field, making the Dewott jolt and flinch-

And then it reached the cameras, and the arena exploded.

A blast of heat scorched Colette's skin, and she curled away from the blast, holding Luci tight in her arms. People were screaming, running and shoving each other in panic, and when one person jostled her she almost lost hold of her starter. Her shirt was- crap, it was smoking- but one of the trainers who'd been watching Water-Gunned her with a Goldeen before she got badly burned. Her back made her gasp with pain when she moved too quickly. She'd been burned after all.

 _Ow_.

Most of the arena was ablaze, though some spots were already dimming to a smolder as the stun spore burned up. Colette saw Clemont waving away smoke from behind a generated shield and cursing, but the challenger and her Dewott were nowhere to be found. Without really thinking about it and still in what she thought in the back of her mind might be that 'shock' thing, Colette went toward him. The air smelled sour.

She tripped over something on her way over, though, and looked down to see a guitar case just as he looked up. She'd meant to ask him what had just happened, if she'd been right, still stunned by how quickly the arena had gone up in flames, but he preempted her. "Oh, good, you have the challenger's things!" he called out. "Friend of hers? You'll find her at Lumiose Memorial."

Colette meant to say she didn't know her, but what came out was, "Is that a hospital?" Her ears were still ringing.

"It's in north Lumiose," one of the gym trainers said flatly. "Close to Hibernal Avenue. You'd better go there yourself, and take the challenger's things with you. Weren't you close to the blast?" _Well, yeah_ , Colette wanted to say, _but if humans could get killed by any little explosion we'd never get anywhere-_ "Go on, shoo. Get yourself fixed up. A man with a Dustox brought her in, if that'll help you find her."

"Uh, sure," Colette said, half-shocked and twice as confused. Gym trainer's orders, she guessed. The trainer's Manectric stepped on her feet, sniffing at her bag, and made Luci climb higher up her body in self-defense. "Got it." She picked up the guitar case and the challenger's colorful backpack, wincing as the movement aggravated her back, and went.

The hospital, when Colette finally found it, was all but swarmed. "What's going on?" This didn't seem like it was from the explosion.

An older girl looked up from where she leaned on her Tauros's side and said, "Some kind of trouble on Route 14. Bunch of Bug Pokemon attacking people." Her left arm was in a sling across her chest; Colette could see bandages peeking out from behind it. The girl followed Colette's line of sight and snickered weakly. "Friggin' Karrablast got me in the arm, tore a whole chunk out. Wanna see it?" She started to hold out her arm.

Colette backpedaled. "No! No, thank you, I'm good." She squinted up the hospital steps, glancing back and forth at the trainers camped out outside of it. Some paramedics with nurse Pokemon were making rounds among the people waiting. "What happened? This isn't normal, is it?"

"I've never seen anything like it," the trainer admitted. Her Tauros lowed and huffed moodily at her back, glaring at Colette over her shoulder. Luci shuffled on Colette's head. "Like, bug attacks are understandable, especially this time of year, but this was bad enough to make them evacuate the route. They're talkin' about moving some of the worse cases to Laverre. This one kid got, like, disemboweled." She sounded way too thrilled about the thought.

"And that's not normal," Colette repeated weakly. Ooookay. _Why am I doing this again?_ "Um. I've just gotta deliver some stuff to someone in the hospital. Do you think they'll let me in?"

"You delivering to a trainer?" Nod. "Just go to the Pokemon Center and wait for 'em to pick their team up, they'll get there. I don't think they're letting anyone but family in right now."

Colette could get in if she wanted. She'd just have to hang around someone who looked like her really closely, and fret and freak out and maybe cry a little, and the paramedics would probably assume she was their younger sister or whatever. She could find a way. But she was tired, and finding the hospital had taken hours, all the taxis tied up, and she couldn't think of anything better than checking into an actual Pokemon Center and going to sleep. A gate couch did _not_ a good sleep make. "Thanks," she told the trainer, making herself smile. "You've been really helpful."

"No problem," the girl drawled, a little pale, and Colette gave her an awkward little wave as she walked away. North Lumiose's PokeCenter was closer.

* * *

"How do I apply this?" Colette asked Luci, holding up the burn cream and contorting in the mirror. The Pokemon Center was packed four trainers to a room, but Colette's early arrival meant she had a few hours before the rest of her roommates arrived to collect on their reservations. She had monopolized the bathroom in anticipation, chest tight with formless anxiety. Push through it. "Could you help? The Ledyba stared at her, unblinking. A day of being around him hadn't helped her figure out his body language. "Yeah, okay, maybe not." She didn't really need to go to the hospital for herself, anyway. This was fine.

One day as a trainer and she'd already gotten herself hurt. _Fuck_ , this day had lasted forever. She'd woken up, gotten her bag, had her first battle, gotten her license and made a phone call and wandered around and it was _only just getting dark_. Colette wanted to curl up on the bottom bunk and sleep forever. She wanted to close her eyes until there was nothing but darkness and huddle in her bed, to breathe and pretend she was back at home, to go back to school tomorrow-

It would be so easy. She could just call her mom and say _take me home_. She could take Luci to school with her. Some restructuring of her schedule, some counseling or something, and she'd be fine. She'd be _golden_. Did she want to go out and have a chunk taken out of her arm? Did she want to snicker at the thought of getting hurt?

Luciano chittered and tapped the burn cream, and Colette jolted. "Oh, yeah." She frowned, pulled off her ruined shirt to leave only a bra underneath, and glared at her back in the mirror. The explosion had scorched the back of her new shirt and left her entire lower back searing red, already forming blisters; the backs of her pant legs were also seared at the edges. She was surprised it hadn't gotten her bra strap, too. She managed to slather the ointment on her lower back, but her arms couldn't reach the small of her back, just below the bra strap. She was about to turn and ask Luciano for help when a hard knock sounded on the door.

"Hello? Is someone in there?" The door started opening.

"In here!" Colette yelped, turning around, and scraped her back against the counter. " _Ah!"_

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" The person retreated. "Are you okay? Did you fall?"

"Burned my back," Colette hissed out. The flare retreated to a sting- _ow_ \- and she started to feel kind of embarrassed. "Sorry. I'll be out in a little while." She pulled on her original, torn-up shirt and stepped out with a sheepish smile. The girl waiting for the bathroom was tall and gangly, with chin-length blonde hair and a constellation of freckles across her shoulders. She was holding a complimentary toiletry set and had a towel over her arm.

"I'm sorry you got burned," the girl blurted out when she saw Colette. "That must have hurt a lot."

"... It's fine," Colette said, surprised. "But I think if we keep apologizing to each other we'll get stuck in a feedback loop."

The girl broke out in a high, giggly laugh. "Oh, sorry, I- wait. Oh no." She collected herself and stuck out a hand. "Hi. I'm Carrie. I've got two badges."

Colette blinked. Somehow she hadn't expected this to end in a conversation. "Hi, Carrie, I'm Colette. Zero badges." _Soon to become more, hopefully._ Luciano flew out of the bathroom to light on her shoulder, and Carrie's eyes flicked down to him, then settled on Colette's shirt.

"Not to sound nosy, but do you have a change of clothes?"

"Nnno, actually," Colette admitted. "But I should get some tomorrow." If her mom brought some with her. If she ended up continuing as a trainer after all. All in question.

Carrie regarded her, nodded as if to herself, and diverted to dig through her bag at the bunk across from Colette's. She came back with a black T-shirt with a LeoCorp logo on it. "Wear this until tomorrow, okay? I got it at a promotional event."

"I can't take your clothes," Colette said, startled. "It's your shirt."

"It's no problem, just pay it forward," the other trainer said. Colette shrugged and pulled the T-shirt over her head.

"Well, thanks." She went to sit on her bed, sorting through the things she'd brought. Carrie smiled, stepped into the bathroom, and closed the door behind her.

Nick's old trainer manual. Huh. She'd forgot she brought that. Colette had never looked inside of it- it was in his old room most of the time, which he used whenever he came to visit and left closed the rest of the time. He had never liked it when Colette tried to sneak into his room as a little kid, but that hadn't stopped her from learning how to pick the lock. She had broken into his room to take it, since he never used it any more. The only Pokemon he had left was his Aromatisse.

She brushed a hand across the creased cover of the book, its folded corners and faded title. Nick had carried this thing _religiously,_ wherever he went. It had multicolored tabs and post-it notes sticking out between the pages. _What annotations did you make, Nick? What was so interesting that you had to note it down for later?_

She opened to the first chapter- _Beginner Basics-_ and started to read. When she finally fell asleep it was with the book under her cheek.

Colette left the case with the Center nurse the next day, having finally tracked down the name of the challenger- Embry something-or-other, four badges- then went back to pilfer every magazine back-issue and book off the shelves, one by one.

 _The Daily Trainer, Battle!, Fierce, The Routes Of Kalos, Central Kalos Pokemon Guide, Mountain Kalos Pokemon Guide._.. Luciano crawled all over the Pokemon Center walls and ceiling, bothered every other Pokemon that came in, and circled back to Colette every once and a while to look at what she was doing. She tried to remember to pet his exoskeleton whenever he came close enough.

 **Spotlight: Garchomp**

 **Perhaps the most famous of these Dragon Pokemon in history belonged to Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, but (nickname?) is far from the main shark on the stage. The newest contender for most famous Garchomp is Kanto Champion Namiko's Allegra, who dwarfs Cynthia's at a stunning 30 feet long and whose Dragon Breath can melt a house! Impressive enough, but what's even more impressive is the League's reaction to Allegra's strength: her breeder is prohibited from coming forward! That's right, folks; legally speaking, there may never be another Garchomp like this one. We reached out to Champion Namiko to see if she had any hints, but received no response.**

Not what she was looking for. Colette picked up the Central Kalos guide. Bug-types were weak to Flying, Rock, and Fire and weren't very effective against Steel, Poison, or Ghost. They didn't like the cold, either, and that would probably be worse on a part-Flying type. Luciano would also be weak to Electric and Ice moves. So she needed something that would cover that absolute multitude of weaknesses…

Probably a Water or Rock type? What was there? Psyduck or Squirtle might work. Rock type- maybe a Dwebble? Geodude, maybe. Not that any of those really appealed. Her best bet would probably be Route 5 or 6, just catching whatever came up first. A Pancham would cover Rock-types and be sturdy enough to hold up against things a Ledyba could not.

Something nudged against her leg. She reached down thoughtlessly, expecting smooth chitin, and encountered warm fur instead. A Fennekin blinked up at her with wide, dark eyes. "Oop. Sorry." Further investigation showed that Luciano was across the room, on the wall just above a female trainer's head. Colette gave it eight seconds before she-

 _"Aaah!"_

\- freaked out and oh, hey, now Luciano was scrambling into her arms. "Sorry!" she called again, wincing at the trainer's glare, and put the magazines carefully back before inching out of the Center. That girl was already on her feet, Pokeballs in hand, and they were in no shape for a battle.

Colette got eight feet before something tread on her heels. She let go of the Ledyba to turn around. The Fennekin sat on its haunches and looked up at her. "The Center's that way," she told it. "You shouldn't stray this far from your trainer. Someone might steal you."

It followed them all the way down the street, always a few feet behind, until they turned a corner and started heading toward the tourist districts. Then, when Colette looked back, it was gone.

* * *

 _Beginner Basics: Foster your Pokemon's strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Get to know their species and individual traits._

Well, all right then. Ledyba communicated via aromatic fluids secreted from their feet and leg joints. The smells indicated emotion and location and were complex enough to form their own language. If a trainer was supposed to take advantage of her Pokemons' unique abilities, olfactory communication was a good place to start.

"Plus we're stuck here two more days," Colette told her starter, "so it's not like we have anything else to do."

They were sitting on a curb in one of the most frequented tourist areas in the city. The ornate basilica that the arrondissement was famous for watched over the streets like a guarding Legendary. The air smelled like cigarette smoke and flowers, and locals had set up stalls on both sides of the cobblestone street, selling landscape paintings, caricatures, and anything and everything Lumiose Tower-themed. Colette saw more foreign Pokemon sitting there than she ever had in Santalune: a Froslass, two Wingull, and a loping Blaziken with a bouquet of roses in its arms. Luciano huddled close in her lap, buzzing his wings sporadically and not trying to wander even a little bit, and she was reminded of the other thing she'd learned about Ledyba: they were anxious alone, always huddling in groups and nesting against the cold. As much as he'd been wandering earlier, he'd stayed within sight of Colette; here, with more obstructions, more distractions, he didn't seem to want to risk it. Selective bravery. That was something she could understand.

He climbed back onto her head when she stood up and headed toward one of the pale brick alleyways that the guidebooks said were frequented by trainers. She turned the corner, just out of sight of the street, glanced around to make sure she wasn't about to get jumped, and said, "Okay, ready?" Luciano climbed off her head and dropped down into the dirt in front of her. "You communicate by scent, right?" Buzz. "Well, I'm going to try to learn some of how you communicate, if you want to teach me." Lighter buzz. Colette decided to interpret that as assent. "Okay! Try, um- think of something that makes you angry."

The Ledyba waved his antennae at her. All she could smell was air. "Ba," he said encouragingly, and she frowned.

"Okay, try- what's something you actually communicate? Like, what's something you could say about what we're doing right now? Don't say it's stupid."

Luciano's expression was completely unreadable at this point, but the air started to smell faintly of... Colette furrowed her eyebrows, trying to tease out the actual scents. Smell was linked directly to emotions in the human brain, while in Ledyba it was probably in like, language centers or something. Whatever Bug Pokemon had that counted as a language center. It smelled nice, but she couldn't identify what it smelled like. A little floral and a little spicy, more like peppercorn than jalapeños. Spice that was prickly instead of burning. "What's that mean?" Stare. "Nod if I say something accurate," she tried, and then said, "Dark, shadowy, alone, um, this is probably more of an adjective so I'm not gonna say dirt, something we're likely to get mugged, someplace we're not likely to get mugged-"

"Ledy!"

Colette stared. "It means _someplace we're not likely to get mugged_?" Luciano tilted his head slightly to the right, big compound eyes focused on her face. "Something simpler. No loss of possessions. Do you even have possessions? Good hiding place. Wait, no, safe! It means safe?" The Ledyba crawled up, patted her on the hand with one white digit, and resumed his hopeful look. Colette chose to interpret that as a yes. "So what's the opposite? What's not safe?"

The scent-meanings she managed to suss out were the following: floral peppercorn was safe; floral with a hint of mustiness was unsafe; sour was anger (the Pokedex told her that); cloying-sweet was welcoming, or possibly food. After that Colette started sneezing uncontrollably and they had to stop.

"Do you know if the meanings are universal among Ledyba, or do they vary between groups?" Colette asked after her eyes stopped watering. She was still sniffling. Luciano waved his antennae and didn't respond. "It would make sense if they were universal, right, but what if- is the unsafe smell mostly floral because it's easier to hide that way? Does it smell like different flowers if you live in a different route?"

Luciano's expression was so blank it could be used to simulate gunshots. "Led," he tried, and Colette groaned and leaned against the wall.

"I'm trying to figure out if there's a way I can just look up meanings," she explained. "Except if they vary everyone's anecdotes'll be different, right, and looking up smells doesn't always work because you can't experience them online like with sight and sound. Why am I explaining this to you, you've never been on the Internet."

"Ba."

"Exactly! There's no point!"

Someone cleared their throat. Colette whirled around and backed up sharply, startled by the appearance of two trainers in the entrance of the alleyway. Luciano started smelling like flowers that had been locked in a closet for months. Colette sniffled, wiped her nose, and said, "Um, can I help you?" _How long have you been there?_

"You have a Ledyba," the girl said. "Are you Colette Lacebark?" She had glossy dark hair and simple, expensive-looking clothes- the kind you bought when you had money and wanted to look classy instead of tacky. She could have been any Lumiose native, except for the intense look in her eyes and the fact that she was blocking Colette's only exit. There was a boy next to her who could have been her brother.

"Did you have Embry Little's things earlier today?" the boy cut in. "The girl who got hurt in a gym battle yesterday?"

Colette relaxed a little. So that was what this was about. "Oh! Yeah, I did. I dropped them off at Lumiose General earlier."

"Everything?" the girl pressed. "You dropped off everything?"

"I think you should come with us," the boy said, and that was when Colette decided to stop listening. She stepped past the pair of them and only stopped when the girl grabbed her arm. Her grip was like a bear trap.

" _Hey!_ "

"This is serious," the boy said. His eyes were a deep violet, and his skin was as pale as paper. If Colette had to guess, given the unusual irises, she'd say they were psychics. Not exactly a comforting thought when you were being cornered by them. "Embry's a friend of ours. If you've taken her guitar-"

" _Why_ would I take a guitar?"

"That's not our concern," the girl said. "Our concern is where her guitar is. If you could just tell us what you've done with it, we'll leave you alone."

"I haven't done anything with anything! Go to the police if you're so freaked out, but if something happened to a guitar it happened before I had the case, because it was _way_ too light to have anything in it."

"Was there anyone else in the room with you, then? Could someone else have-"

"No," Colette said, then added spitefully, "I'm not in the mood for police procedural LARPing or whatever this is." Luci fluttered on his perch on her shoulder. She couldn't help but notice that there were at least three Pokeballs at each trainer's waist to her one Ledyba. Haha, _why was this happening_. "I didn't take anything. I didn't see a guitar. You're being creepy and I'm leaving now, so if you're going to be creepier and stop me I'm gonna start screaming really loud, okay?"

The boy held up his hands. "We don't mean to be threatening," he said, managing to sound somehow both innocent and condescending. "We just want to make sure our friend gets her property back."

"It's really important to her," the girl said, vivid purple eyes boring into Colette's.

Colette averted her gaze. "That's nice," she said. "I, um, don't actually care. Don't talk to me again." She pushed past the two of them, and this time they let her.

"You'll tell us if you hear anything," the boy said. Colette wasn't brave enough to flip him off, but she did make a vaguely rude hand gesture at him and stalk into the crowd, shivering with relief when it closed around her. When she glanced back she saw a Zoroark appear, hunched and ragged, between the two strangers. They hadn't taken her eyes off her, but the Pokemon was going deeper into the alleyway, disappearing into the shadows.

She found her way back to the Pokemon Center and sat across the street from it. Neither trainers nor Zoroark came near the entrance. At some point the same Fennekin materialized beside her and leaped up onto the bench, curling into a neat comma and covering its nose with its fluffy tail.

An hour later Colette decided she was safe enough and went back into the Center. When she looked back at the bench the silent Fennekin was nowhere in sight.

* * *

 **A/N: Chapters are probably going to be a little shorter from now on, since I'm gonna try to update more frequently. Huge thanks to Uninspired Heap for beta reading both this and 'Chasing the Gods.'**

 **Happy (late) New Year!**

 **A/N Part Two, Son of A/N: Consolidated this with chapter four, because I backread and realized I contradicted myself in a way that was, frankly, silly. So now it's a longer chapter here and soon a different Ch. 4. So if you came by and were wondering about the sudden disappearance of a fourth of this story, this is where it went.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you to everyone for reviewing! I can't respond to everyone right now bc it's very late, but I will do my best to respond in the future. Brtnvm, I consolidated ch3 with the previous ch4- that way I think it flows better.**

 **I don't think anything in this story needs a trigger warning yet but if something does, please feel free to tell me. And thanks to Uninspired Heap for general support.**

* * *

Colette woke up early the next day to the sound of two of the three other trainers leaving. She muffled a groan, pulled the blanket over her head, and tried to sleep, only to be prodded awake by persistent nudging. "Luci?" she mumbled, groping out. "Leave me 'lone for a bit." Her hand brushed warm fur. She woke up for real when she yelped and fell out of bed completely. _What._ "Whose _are_ you?" The Fennekin blinked at her from its place on her bed.

"Is something wrong?" Carrie asked muzzily from across the room. Colette scrambled up off the floor and brushed herself off, painfully aware that she was still wearing the same scorched pants and borrowed T-shirt from the day before. She could not _wait_ for newer clothes.

"I'm taking a shower," she decided abruptly. "Guard my stuff, Luci, okay?" Luciano, who'd actually been sitting across the room, buzzed what she thought might be assent. The Fennekin only flicked its ears and curled back onto the covers.

The bathroom had a few sets of complimentary toiletries under the sink. She turned on the shower, not bothering to wait for the water to warm, and rinsed just to get the sweat and grime off her skin. By the time she came out, hair wet and sticking to her skin, the Fennekin was on her pillow and Luciano was talking next to it. Carrie shrugged when Colette shot her a questioning look. "They've been like that since you went into the bathroom."

"Is that your Fennekin?"

"Nope," she said. "I actually thought it was yours."

"It's been following me," Colette said awkwardly. Carrie tossed her a Pokeball. She fumbled the catch, flushed with embarrassment, and picked it up from the floor. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"You can use it to find out if it belongs to someone," Carrie said, like it was obvious. It _was_ obvious. She just didn't get why Carrie was giving her one of _her_ Pokeballs to do it. _Oh, well._

"Hey, Fennekin," Colette called, and tossed the ball in its direction. It hit and sucked the Fennekin in with a flash of light, fell to the floor, and clicked. Carrie burst out laughing. Colette stared at her in rising indignation. "What- you did that on purpose!"

"What are you complaining about? You have a Fennekin now!"

"I didn't _want_ a Fennekin now!" Colette yelped. "I might not even be a trainer tomorrow!"

"Plenty of people use Fennekin locally," Carrie said, now sounding concerned. "I'm... sure you could do the same? I'm sorry, I didn't think it was such a big deal."

"It's fine." Colette stooped to pick up the ball and pressed the button to release the Fennekin. It looked up at her with its dark, blank eyes and pricked its ears. "I'm going to register you with my dex, okay? Hold still." She pulled out her Pokedex and had it scan the little fox, then startled and stared at the results. Looked back at the Fennekin, its black eyes and still body, its utter silence. Back at the Pokedex entry. "So... that's how you kept hiding," she said slowly. A Skiddo on the street, maybe, or a Fletchling pecking at crumbs. Of all the possibilities, _your Fennekin's actually a Ditto_ had never registered as one of them. Not that she'd been considering a whole lot of possibilities in the first place. "Do you have a name?"

The Fennekin blinked. Luciano asked, "Ba?" like he was translating, and the Fennekin- the Ditto- only flicked an ear and didn't stop looking up at Colette.

"I'm going to take that as a no," Colette said, reaching out to brush a tentative hand against its ear. "What do you think of... Morpheus? That's a cool name." _I can call you Morph for short,_ she didn't say. Morpheus opened its mouth, closed it gently on her fingers, and looked up at her with raised ears. Colette had absolutely no idea what that meant. She pulled back her fingers carefully and said, "Glad you like it." Luciano started smelling sweet.

The other trainer was still wringing her hands. "I'm really sorry," she said again. "But I... guess it's turning out okay? I swear I didn't mean to pressure you-"

"It's okay," Colette promised her. She pocketed the Pokeball. "I've always wanted a Fennekin."

* * *

The sound that had woken her, Colette found when she went into the lobby, was a text from her mother that detailed the time and place they were going to meet. Colette had two hours to head to the Cafe Soleil on South Boulevard. She left both Luciano and Morpheus out, telling them to stick close because of the crowds, and walked out to cross the city. Contrary to her expectations, Luci didn't fly to cling to her head or back; instead he hovered just near Morpheus, who was trotting at Colette's heels, and spoke in a continuous drone. If the Ditto was replying, Colette couldn't tell.

Early morning in Lumiose was loud, especially when she got closer to the big avenues where all the traffic backed up. Many of the streets were pedestrian-only, but where there were roads the few cars on them made sure to have their voices heard. On top of the noise, the sky was pale gray with cloud cover, and a thin drizzle fell over the city, soaking Colette's clothes. Crowds of people walked the streets with shopping bags and backpacks, dressed in the quirky elegant style of Kalos's capital city. Colette saw a huge Aurorus spreading its fins to soak up the cool mist and dodged under it, sidestepping the tiny Fletchling that were using it as a makeshift rain shelter. Gogoat traffic let her through without any fuss, and finally she was out of the streets and at the edge of Magenta Plaza.

"Whoa," she breathed. She hadn't remembered the river. The canal cut through the middle of Lumiose City and had deep stone walls, guiding the river under and through the streets. The water glittered in the early morning sun; in other parts of the city there were beaches where you could almost touch the water, but here it was at least six feet down from the stone pathway. Luciano flew out over the river, making Colette tense, but Morpheus stayed at her heels. She couldn't see any water Pokemon in the river, but there were shadows under the surface. No _way_ it was as lifeless as it looked.

Colette bit her lip and glanced down at Morpheus. It was sitting next to her foot, apparently perfectly content, and it seemed to want to be part of her team. Shouldn't she try to train with it some, today? Try to train with both of them? She checked her phone: an hour and a half left. That was enough time. Probably. "Hey, Luci? Come back here, please!"

Luciano landed on her shoulder and looked at her expectantly. "Ledy?"

"We're going to look for someone to battle," Colette explained. Morpheus pawed at her ankle until she picked it up like a football. "I'm not gonna be able to hold you while you do it, though."

The Pokedex said a Fennekin of Morpheus's level should know Scratch, Tail Whip, and Ember. Colette looked down at Morpheus contemplatively. "Can you use Ember over the water, please?" It stared up at her for a straight five minutes, until she graduated from patient to incredibly uncomfortable, then blinked slowly and walked over to the water. The flame it spat into the air was thin and red-orange, but it was flame. Colette's heart leaped; she hadn't been sure it would know a Fennekin's moves naturally. "How about Scratch?" This time it only stared. "Well, good job."

She needed to look up how Ditto usually thought and acted. Was this _normal?_ Maybe they just naturally had a strange way of thinking, more of a language barrier to cross. Or maybe the fact that they didn't have brains affected them more than it did, say, a Castform. _Who knows?_

Now to find someone to battle.

People in Lumiose tended to battle less in the streets, where it could impede traffic, but more in the alleys and smaller pedestrian areas around the city. Colette had seen a few battles in passing- restaurant employees blowing off steam, or tourists having fun- but hadn't actually participated in any herself. The idea of participating and losing where spectators could see put a searing ball of anxiety in her chest. But there was no way to be a trainer without battling, so she would just have to deal with that. It would work out. If she lost, nobody would remember her face afterwards anyway.

She found her first possible opponent, a waitress with Pokeballs in hand who was leaning against the side of her cafe, between Magenta Plaza and Autumnal Avenue. Colette's nerves got the better of her. What if the waitress was significantly stronger than her? Did she really want to walk up to her and challenge her like the arrogant trainers on TV? Did she _have_ that kind of nerve? She spent nearly seven minutes hovering at the other end of the street, pretending to be engrossed in her guidebook, before eventually giving it up for lost and fleeing.

She found her second possible opponent on the other side of Magenta Plaza: a girl about her age who looked like she might be from Kanto or Johto, given the Spearow and Rattata at her side. Colette gathered her nerve and walked up to ask for a battle, Debate Smile in place, and lost the expression completely when the girl looked up gleefully. "Um, do you want to-"

"Battle? Of course!" And yep, that accent was Kantonese. "Thunder, you're up first!"

"Wait," Colette blurted out, as Morpheus walked up and took its place across from the Spearow. "Aren't we going to agree on a wager first?" The girl from Kanto waved a hand.

"We'll agree on something reasonable," she said airily. "You don't seem so bad. It's fine. Thunder, use Leer!"

The Spearow fixed its gaze on Morpheus and opened its razor beak wide, spreading its feathers and glaring. Morpheus flattened its ears and moved back slightly, and Colette called out, "Get closer and use Ember!"

"Fly!" the girl from Kanto yelled, but the edges of the blast of fire still singed the Spearow's feathers and caught, making it flap its wings rapidly to try to snuff it out.

"Tail Whip," Colette called next, "while it's flying. Don't try to attack if it isn't in range." Morpheus looked back at her in what she thought might be confusion, and she said encouragingly, "You know. Act cute."

"Thunder won't fall for that," her opponent said scornfully, but the Ditto was already gazing up at the Spearow, which was flapping quickly and gaining some distance. Morpheus flopped over on his side and splayed out its paws, flicking its fluffy tail side to side like a bored Skitty kitten. It rolled over so its ears spread out on the ground like they were squished and curled its paws against its chest. Colette was possessed by the terrible urge to pick it up and pet it; the Spearow, obviously confused, circled lower. The girl from Kanto huffed an annoyed sigh and said, "Use Peck on its belly!"

"Dodge and bite its wing, burn it!" Colette blurted out just as quickly, and when the Spearow dove down the Ditto flipped over, kicking against the ground and using its thick tail to spring off, and sank its teeth into the bird's wing. The Spearow shrieked in rage and pain and drove its glowing beak into Morpheus's side, but Morpheus only bit down harder, flames boiling through its teeth, until the bird Pokemon threw it off and staggered away crying. Colette's opponent withdrew it with a scowl and motioned her Rattata into the field.

"You have a second Pokemon?"

"Oh! Right," Colette said, tearing her gaze away from the Ditto's side. It had a bleeding wound from where the Peck had broken the skin. "Good job, Morph, that was awesome. Luci, you're up. Supersonic!" She heard the girl curse just before she slammed her hands over her ears, but the Rattata's ears were too big to be blocked; it cried out and shook its head back and forth, wavering on its feet. "Now use Tackle!"

"Dodge it!" the girl called, but the Rattata was still confused. Luci's tackle sent it tumbling, though it jumped to its feet a second later. It fixed its eyes on the Ledyba and chattered angrily. "Now, Quick Attack!" Faster than Colette could think, it streamed forward and hit Luciano so hard he went flying into the air. He caught himself with his wings, out of range, and looked back at Colette. He smelled like sour and bitter together: a combination she didn't know.

"You're doing fine! Stay out of range and use Swift!" A shower of stars shot down to the Rattata; it dodged most of them, letting them burst to sparkles when they hit the ground, but a few struck it head-on and cut into its purple hide, making it squeal. "Again!"

More hits; the Rattata dodged back closer to its trainer, who glared across the field at Colette and shouted, "Keep out of range, lure it in!" That was unavoidable, Colette realized- Luciano had to move closer to keep the Rattata in range, and fairness demanded that he stay within or above the area designated as the battlefield; the closer the Rattata moved to its trainer, the lower to the ground Luci had to be to stay within the field. Either he was close to Colette and low to the ground, or he was almost directly above the Rattata. There was a third option, where he stayed as far as possible and let the few Swift stars that hit each time wear the Rattata down until it fainted, but...

 _Damn it!_ Luciano was already slowly descending, still shooting stars. Colette yelled, "Stay out of range!" but he raced in with a sudden Tackle anyway, knocking the rat Pokemon over. The Rattata recovered faster than she'd expected. "Watch _out!_ " It raced at Luciano in a blur of a Quick Attack, which the Ledyba barely dodged-

-and hit Colette square in the torso, knocking the wind out of her and sending her over the edge of the canal, into the river. She yelped, weightless, before the water hit and she went under.

She hadn't swum anywhere in years, but she had been raised with an Azumarill; really, it was just like riding a bicycle. The river was remarkably clear, letting her see which way was up, and Colette bobbed back up to the surface, sputtering. She came face to face with a terrified Ledyba. "This is your fault," she said sourly when she got back her breath, but Luciano looked fretful and also guilty, so she couldn't really stay mad at him. _Gosh, I hope this river water is clean,_ she thought, and looked up at her opponent through a mess of wet hair. "I just took a shower," she complained, and the girl from Kanto made a face like she was trying not to laugh. _Jerk._ "Can you please help me up?"

"I don't know," her opponent said, dangling her legs over the water. Her feet were at least four feet above Colette's head. "You won that battle. You drown, I keep my money."

"I'll get my Ledyba to push you in," Colette threatened, paddling over to the edge. At least her bag with her Pokedex was still up there; she'd put it on the ground beside her before the battle. " _Seriously_! I have to meet someone in like an hour, don't think I won't!"

The girl peeked over the edge, obviously amused. Her long dark hair was immaculate, so Colette grabbed a handful of water and threw it up at her, making her draw back with a gasp. "Hey! Do you always use threats to get what you want?"

"I've heard that's only effective if people know you carry them out," Colette said, treading water. Her jeans and tennis shoes were absolutely soaked. She was going to be chafing all day, she could already tell, and the burns on her back were starting to sting again. Wasn't there something bad about mixing river water with open wounds? And she could swear a fish Pokemon had just bumped her leg, _why wasn't this trainer helping her out,_ did she want her embarrassed? Was she that much of a sore loser? Colette's mood soured. "So logically, my next course of action would be to have Luci knock you in and get my revenge here, in the water, my new native element, which you've consigned me to because you can't handle losing a _single battle_ -

"You've made your point! Don't get hysterical on me," the girl said, rolling her eyes. "And d _on't_ splash me again. This look took hours! Let me get you an escape rope." She retreated from the edge of the canal to do... something... and another, unfamiliar face looked over the edge curiously. It was joined by what looked like half a tour group. Colette burned with embarrassment, and also with the continued exertion of treading water when she hadn't had to in years. Her eyes stung.

"Oh, hey, did someone fall in?"

"Are they okay?"

"Mom, Dad, let me see!"

"Any _minute_ now!" Colette called up, sick of seeing the bystander effect in action- no one was going to help? Seriously?- and the girl reappeared, dangling a thick rope over the edge. The bottom quarter of it was tied into a sturdy loop; Colette pulled it down, swung her legs up so her feet were propped against it, and held on.

"Help me pull this up," she heard the girl from Kanto say, and slowly the rope rose until Colette was back on dry land. She stepped carefully away from the edge, Luciano clinging to her back like he thought she'd died and was checking for a pulse.

The rest of the tour group was apparently composed of a burly man and his equally muscled Machoke, who had joined their fellows in taking as many pictures as their disposable cameras could hold. _Why?_ "Um, thanks, everyone," Colette forced out. "It was nice of you to help." _Help the stupid trainer out of the mess she got herself into. Idiot, such an idiot-_

"That means the show is over," the girl from Kanto clarified, jolting Colette out of her self-recrimination. "Everyone leave their tips with me, they are always appreciated." Someone actually handed her a Pokedollar. Colette gaped in disgusted indignation.

"I'm the one who actually fell in the river!" Someone gave her a Pokedollar, too. She didn't know whether that made it better or worse.

"Go, go," the girl from Kanto was saying, shooing the tour group off like a herd of recalcitrant Tauros. "Leave! Live your lives." She handed Colette her Pokedollar. "Here. Because you won the battle."

"One Pokedollar isn't an acceptable wager anywhere," Colette said incredulously. She was rapidly revising her initial opinion of her opponent. She wasn't just a little brusque; she was _rude,_ and a _jerk,_ and had a look in her eyes like she was mocking her. "You pushed me in a river and you think one Pokedollar is enough? I have to meet my mom in an hour! She's already going to think I'm completely incompetent, and now I'm in tatters and soaking wet and I can't even- fuck! Fuck. Why am I crying?" She _was_ crying again. She wiped at her eyes furiously, _furious,_ and glared when the Kanto girl smiled. "I bet you think this is funny," she said angrily.

"I think you're very touchy," the girl said. She wasn't even concerned-looking, just amused. "Are you done crying?"

 _"Fuck you."_

"Because if you are... I was going to offer to find you a quick way to dry off. But it's clear you don't like me, so I think instead I'll leave you alone. You can cry about falling in a river all by yourself and go meet your mother soaking wet. I'm sure you'd prefer that to following me anywhere."

"Are you trying to make me _beg?"_ Colette snapped, stung to the core. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

The girl shrugged. "I didn't push you in the river. My Rattata accidentally did that, and then he knocked himself out, which I think counts as an apology. But you seem very insistent on blaming me for it. All things considered, you've said some rude things to me. _You_ should apologize."

Colette jerked her eyes away from the older girl's dark, knowing gaze. "Luci," she said, hating herself, and her Ledyba perked to attention, "could you get Morpheus over here, please? And good job with the battle." The girl from Kanto was still watching her, but obviously starting to lose interest. "I'm _sorry,"_ Colette forced out. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I know it was an accident."

"A very distressing accident, apparently," the girl observed. Colette burned. "Well, come on, then. I know a place you can dry off. Consider it the rest of your earnings from the battle."

 _That isn't how wagering works,_ Colette thought bitterly, but she followed the other girl anyway, defeated. Her shoes went _squelch_ with every step. She felt like all of Lumiose was staring at her. "Do you have a name?" she asked, for lack of anything else to say, and the girl turned to look at her again. They were heading toward Autumnal Avenue. What was on Autumnal Avenue?

"I'm called Nishimura Etsu. Because you're so upset, you may call me Etsu. That's a great privilege. You should be thankful for it. Who are you?"

"Colette Lacebark." Rules of polite conversation made her add, "But you can call me Colette."

"Colette," Etsu repeated. "Hm. This is where I would say it's nice to meet you, isn't it?"

"We can skip that part," Colette said. "Where are we going?"

"A Pokemon Center first," Etsu said, "and the second place is a surprise. Do you enjoy surprises?"

" _No,"_ Colette said emphatically, and Etsu snorted.

"Then today is _not_ your lucky day." She didn't say another word until after they'd already gotten their Pokemon healed and were back on the streets.

* * *

The second place after the Pokemon Center was _Friseur Furfrou._ Colette balked. "I can't go in there! I'll track river water all over the floor!"

"They already have dog Pokemon do that. Would you rather meet your mother looking like a drowned ghost?" Etsu pushed open the door with a ding and motioned Colette inside. "Hello? Can we borrow someone's- what is it-"

"Hair dryer?" Colette finished. The woman at the welcome counter looked up in surprise.

"Oh, my, what happened to _you_? Did you trip into a Hydro Cannon?"

"Just a river," Colette said ruefully, and the woman laughed a little. "But I have to meet up with my mom in an hour."

"We have a room we aren't using in the back," the woman said kindly. "You can borrow a dryer if you want, to get the worst off. Oh, and Ms Nishimura, your Growlithe will be just a few more minutes."

" _Doumo arigatou,"_ Etsu said casually. "I'll wait out here for you both."

Colette went into the next room with her Pokemon and managed, with a mix of Fire-type moves and a hair dryer, to turn her clothes from _soaked_ to _damp._ Her hair was a barely salvageable mess and her socks were blistering her feet, but she at least looked like something of a normal trainer. The borrowed LeoCorp T-shirt even looked like it could be returned unharmed, if only with a disclaimer.

Etsu accompanied her back down to Magenta Plaza and then to Cafe Soleil, for reasons opaque to Colette's understanding. "Is this it?"

"Yeah," Colette said. "I can make it from..." She trailed off, shocked. Across traffic was a familiar and unwelcome figure.

The Pyroar was even more ragged and scarred than Colette remembered; it stood at the other side of the street, pedestrians giving it a wide berth, and glared at her with eyes like hot coals. Etsu gave her a strange look when she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, caught, but Luci was already buzzing uncertainly and fixing himself to her back. _He_ recognized the lion, too. Colette swooped down and pulled Morpheus against her chest, and Etsu finally said, "Is something wrong?"

"Have I mentioned that I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier, and I'm grateful that you helped me dry off?"

"Non-sequiturs will not distract me," Etsu said. "Do you know that Pokemon?"

"It's a Pyroar," Colette said, "and it attacked me a couple days ago. Actually. And now it's in the city, glaring at me." Morpheus squirmed as her grip tightened. She wasn't sure if what she was feeling was fear or nerves or what, but she was sure feeling a lot of it. Although... it wasn't nearly as big or vicious as she remembered, was it? And that woman walking up to it-

Wait. _Mom?_ Her mother did _not_ have any Pokemon. "I'm gonna go over and see what's going on," Colette decided, bolstered by her mother's confidence. "It was nice meeting you, Etsu. That was a good battle."

Etsu blinked. "It was," she agreed. "Good luck convincing your mother of your competence." Colette stared at her, nodded thanks, and crossed the street. The Pyroar drew back its lips a little when she approached, but didn't start shooting flames, and she felt Luci relax. Morpheus was held against her chest like a fluffy, malleable shield.

Her mother was crouching next to it, speaking in a low voice. When the Pyroar looked toward Colette she rose, towering over her even before the high heels, and asked, "What in the world happened to your _clothes_?"

Colette was caught. "Um," she tried, frazzled; her mother was in a gray business suit, dark hair pulled into a sleek bun and professional makeup flawless, and Colette was suddenly, painfully conscious of exactly how she must look. Her hair was particularly messy in a way only a shower could fix, she was wearing a borrowed T-shirt and scorched jeans, and her backpack was the only really clean part of her. Not to mention how she usually looked compared to her mother: where Ariana Lacebark was elegant Colette was clumsy, and where she was calm her daughter was panicked. Also, Colette had inherited shortness from her grandmother and was over a head smaller than her mother. She looked like a doll version of her mom who'd been set on fire and then put through the washing machine. _And Morpheus was squirming out of her arms._ "I can explain!" she squeaked out, trying to wrestle it back, but it was determined and had no bones; it twisted for a moment and then it was on the ground. Ariana stepped back, eyebrows meeting her hairline, as the so-called Fennekin marched up to the Pyroar to touch noses. The Pyroar huffed and flopped over, letting the Ditto climb onto its back and curl up there. Colette's genetic makeup was now composed of questions instead of chromosomes.

"I'm not sure you'd be allowed in Cafe Soleil in that getup," Ariana said incredulously, "but I suppose we can try. Did you sign up for a lab starter,or is that Fennekin a hallucination?"

"Its name is Morpheus, and this is Luciano." Colette pointed to the Ledyba fixed to her back, who was peeking over her shoulder. "Luci protected me when that Pyroar attacked me on Route 4."

"Ba," Luci agreed.

"Is that what happened to your clothes? I'd have expected you to borrow something from the Center before appearing in public looking like that. Did they not have anything available?" Her mother looked her up and down, and Colette felt exactly the same as she had when she was four and liked mud pies- a feeling between embarrassment and self-consciousness, except worse because she was no longer four and had no excuse.

"This shirt _was_ borrowed," she said. "Um, you don't seem very concerned about the attack thing."

Ariana shrugged. "You're not wearing any bandages, and I doubt he was seriously trying to hurt you. Did he tear up your other shirt?"

"Sort of," Colette admitted, "but most of that was the explosion. _This_ shirt was the river." It... sounded weirder when she said it out loud.

"You've only been gone _three days!"_

People were looking at them. Colette squirmed in place and begged, "Can we _please_ eat now?"

"Whose shirt is that? How are you going to explain to them that you ruined their shirt trying to fight a river?"

 _"Mom_ , _"_ Colette whined. Ariana rolled her eyes.

"Oh, now you're concerned with making a scene, when _four days ago_ you ran away from home. What happened to my responsible daughter? Was she eaten by this Pyroar after all?"

"I'm actually really hungry."

"You would not _believe_ what I had to tell the neighbors," her mother continued, but she pulled out a chair to an outside table and waved a waiter over. "I'm not risking bringing you inside while you're dressed like that. Is this a trainer thing? Then you can pay for the food with your new trainer money."

"I don't think a Great Ball and one Pokedollar are enough for two meals," Colette said. Her mother snickered.

"Maybe if you'd stayed a few more days at home I could have taught you how to wager properly. Someone offered you a Great Ball instead of money?'

"You can sell them for money," Colette protested, "and technically I lost that battle, anyway- Mom, stop laughing. _Mom."_

"I'm not sure I should let you keep being a trainer," her mother said. "Would you even survive? Look what happened to you in Lumiose alone!"

She ordered two waters from the waiter when he came over. Colette offered, "I also got cornered in an alley and accused of theft by a couple of psychics," and her mother snickered again before glancing over her with concern.

"Again: can you even survive on your own?"

"I'm ambulatory. _Walking,"_ she corrected at her mother's look. "Able to walk. I'm one to one on battles, too."

"What sample size?"

"Two," Colette admitted, "but like you said, it's been three days." She only just noticed that the Pyroar had come over to their table and was sitting by her mother's chair. "Why is _he_ here?"

Her mother frowned. "Don't you recognize him?" Colette watched her blankly. "That's Rasa. He was your brother's Litleo."

"No way," Colette said, but she glanced down at the Pyroar anyway, who still had Morpheus sitting contentedly between his paws. He did look familiar, didn't he? Nick's Litleo had had a slit in his ear and big dark paws, and had always been protective. This Pyroar had the same slit in his ear, the same especially dark paws, and... looking back on when she was attacked... she didn't remember the Pyroar ever harming her, just damaging her clothes and trying to pull her off the route. He'd probably been thinking it was bad that she was out alone at night. She wondered, guilty, if he'd been shocked she hadn't recognized him. " _Rasa_?"

Rasa gazed back at her, looking annoyed yet faintly relieved, and went back to cleaning one of his skinny paws. The rest of Colette's terror melted into pity and then anger. She'd used to dress Rasa up in princess outfits as a little kid. He wouldn't have been trying to hurt her. But the fact that he was so skinny, so ragged and unkempt and _obviously unhealthy-_ " _Seriously_? Why'd Nick even release him if he'd just end up like this? What kind of trainer does that?" She compulsively looked for Luci, who was climbing all over the awning and seemed happy to chase off Fletchling. She'd only known him three _days_ , and she wouldn't release him if she knew he might end up in bad straits. What was Nick's excuse?

"He assumed that he would rejoin his former pride, or so he told me," Ariana said, looking equally annoyed. The waiter came back over. Colette ordered an omelet, and after Ariana ordered her mother added, "And we'll get raw meat for our Pokemon as well." Rasa raised his head.

"Sorry I kicked you in the face," Colette said, because, well, she totally had. The Pyroar licked her hand with a rough tongue and put his head back on his paws, obscuring Morpheus with his mane. The Ditto inched out from under his head and poked at him with its nose, but Rasa barely acknowledged him, breathing heavily. Colette frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Pyre," Rasa growled, and huffed out a tiny puff of flame. Colette took the hint and turned back to the table. When the food arrived the Pyroar tucked into it with a will, so he must not have been feeling too badly.

"Bon appetit," her mother said, and Colette dug some of the sugary Pokemon food that Ledyba ate out of her bag to offer to Luci. To Morpheus she gave bits of ham and cheese from her omelet, even though she had no idea how healthy it was. Or whether Morpheus even had a stomach. If a Ditto ate a lot would it grow in size? Was there a limit to how much a Ditto could metabolize at once? Did their metabolic needs change based on what form they assumed, and were there some forms that Ditto couldn't form or hold long at all? Could a Ditto become trapped in a form, and was that what was happening with Morpheus? She had questions, but no answers. "We're eating now," her mother reminded her, and she had to give up the train of thought for later.

"Where did you get those Pokemon, anyway? You told me the Ledyba protected you from Rasa."

"Morpheus just showed up in my hotel room," Colette told her. "And he wasn't anyone's Pokemon, so I caught him."

" _Colette!_ He could have belonged to a breeder."

"He's... actually a Ditto, so no. But don't tell anyone that. I'm not sure he can change."

Ariana poked her fork at her. "Are you trying to hide it for strategy? Remember, any official tournament requires that you register exactly which Pokemon you have on you. Lying will get you disqualified. You remember how that trainer a few years back tried to pass off his Plusle as a Minun? There wasn't even a substantial difference in that case."

"Minun have a negative charge while Plusle have positive," Colette argued. "That could've affected the opponent's strategy! But no, I'm not doing that. I'd mostly do it for gym battles and casual stuff. There's no rule that you have to reveal what Pokemon you have to anyone before you fight, and letting people draw conclusions is a valid tactical decision."

"It could end in violence," Ariana pointed out. "Some people aren't happy being deceived."

"I'll have Pokemon with me," Colette said. She patted Luci's shell and passed Morpheus another ham cube. Rasa was still tearing into his food. Crouched over like this, he was showing every one of his ribs; they stuck out under his skin like matchsticks. "...Have you heard from Nick?"

Her mother sighed. "Not since he last called." Colette winced. That had been a month ago, and he'd brushed off a scheduled video chat to finish up important research. His eyes had had deep bags under them, and his face had been sallow, animated from within by passionate interest. It was fine, he said, he'd sleep just after this was done. Usually he looked better than this. He just had to finish a few more tests. Colette longed, in theory, to be so taken by science that she abandoned all else in the pursuit of knowledge- but in practice it just made for hurt feelings and long gaps between showers. Nick wouldn't be having fun when her mother finally got him on the phone. "I don't know what he thinks he's doing, but working hard is no excuse for ignoring family. I know for a _fact_ that LeoCorp doesn't overwork its employees."

"Maybe they just do it secretly," Colette suggested. "Or it could be independent stuff. Maybe he's got a whole setup in his apartment."

"Then that would be against building codes, and also no excuse." Ariana put down her glass, demeanor getting serious, and Colette braced herself. "There's still time to fix your grades, you know. I spoke to Vice Principal Harris and he said he would authorize an extra credit project, to bring your grade up to a C. It would look bad, but it would be workable. You could still achieve your dream."

"I'd still have a bad grade, though," Colette said. "There would still be a mark on my record. And I've been really stressed, for the past year. I don't think I could keep from making another mistake like that one. It would just happen again." She wouldn't run out of forgetfulness, but Harris would run out of extra credit projects. There was only so far being "gifted" could take you. _Stupid._

"Do you want to be a trainer, then?"

Colette stared down at her plate. "I already have two Pokemon. I have a Pokedex and everything."

"You've already been injured, too."

"There's technology that can fix that."

Her mother sighed again. "Colette. Look at me." Colette looked at her. "If you want to be a trainer, you can. I'll support you. But you have to be responsible about it. No just packing two sets of clothes, or setting off at night without telling anyone where you're going. Doing things like that increases your chances of getting hurt or caught unprepared."

Cool relief washed over her, followed by mild embarrassment. What _had_ she been thinking when she'd packed? "Got it," she said fervently.

"And you have to stay in Pokemon Centers whenever they're available."

"Mom, I'm not going to camp if I have another option."

"I don't know what you do. And no staying with strange adults. If you're traveling with someone you have to trust them and I have to know who they are. It's a safety concern."

"I understand. I'll do my best."

"Promise?"

Colette nodded. "I promise." She held out her pinky, an old childhood habit, and Ariana locked fingers with her without a trace of irony.

Then she smiled, a little sadly. "I'll file the paperwork with the school. You don't want a whole year of failed grades on your record just because you forgot to officially drop ou-"

A sudden, frantic screech broke their conversation apart. Colette jumped out of her seat, but Luciano was already at the source. She choked back a scream. _Oh. Oh no._

Rasa was convulsing on the ground, mouth bloody and meal half-eaten; his entire body was shaking, eyes gone hazy and distant. Morpheus was whining and yelping. Did he know Rasa somehow? Did he- could he tell this might happen? For a second Colette stood and stared, frozen by the sight, until her mother snapped, "Colette, do you have a Pokeball?"

"What's-" She cut herself off. "I'll get one." The other cafe patrons were standing up, alarmed, but she couldn't care less. Rasa's twitching was getting slower. He didn't seem to be regaining consciousness. And blood was pooling beneath his jaw.

For the second time that day Colette threw a Pokeball, and it clicked with little fanfare. She scooped it up and ran for the nearest Pokecenter, shouting at her mother to let her know where she was going, but there was no point.

By the time her mother caught up with her, Morpheus and Luciano at her heels, the nurse had already told Colette that Rasa was dead.


End file.
